


Stardrops and Shooting Stars

by Wyverness



Series: Stardew Valley: New Horizons [1]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game), どうぶつの森 | Animal Crossing Series
Genre: First Post, Gen, Heartbreak, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Starting Over
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25702015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wyverness/pseuds/Wyverness
Summary: It's not like Sam wanted to marry the farmer—at least, not after finding out how many other people the guy had been seeing behind his back. But constantly running into his ex (and worse, his ex's new husband, Alex) was wearing down even Sam's generally cheerful soul. Maybe what he needs is a fresh start... a new horizon.(Sam signs up for the Desert Island Getaway Package. Character and other tags will be added as new folks arrive on the island. This updates very irregularly, as inspiration moves me, and is completely unrelated to my "Gifts of the Valley" series.)
Series: Stardew Valley: New Horizons [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864024
Comments: 17
Kudos: 9





	1. May 18

Sebastian had been talking about leaving the Valley for ages, but Sam was the first to go.

“Hey, Vince, don’t cry. I’ll write letters, and if I can get hooked into the internet out there, Mom and Dad’ll help you with the computer so we can keep in touch even quicker, all right?” He lowered himself to one knee in front of his little brother. Please, please don’t cry, he begged silently; if Vincent set off the waterworks, the tears pricking at his own eyes were going to spill over.

The little boy sniffed. “I’ll miss you!” He flung his arms around Sam’s neck, and Sam hugged him tightly.

“I’ll miss you, too, kiddo.”

When Vincent finally let him go, Sam stood up and faced the next step of the gauntlet. “I can’t believe you’re really doing this,” his mother said as he picked up his father’s old duffel bag. “Couldn’t you just go to Zuzu City, instead? Isn’t that what you and your friends always dreamed about?” She wasn’t even trying to hold back her tears, though he thought they were more from anger than anything else. If Vincent wasn’t right there, she would definitely have some stronger words for him now, echoes of the ones he’d already heard when he’d first told his parents of his decision.

He shrugged. Zuzu wasn’t nearly far enough away; it would be too easy to give into the temptation to turn tail and run home the moment things got tough. “I need a bigger change than that,” he said. Otherwise he’d never be able to reassemble the shattered wreckage of his heart.

She scowled. “If those farmers hadn’t moved here—”

“Don’t blame them,” Sam said, as much to convince himself as her. The siblings who had inherited the old farmstead on the edge of town might have been the catalyst, but they’d only stirred up the rifts and resentments that everyone had spent years pretending didn’t—couldn’t—exist in perfect Pelican Town. That didn’t make it any easier to keep running into his ex. “Look, Mom, this is for the best. If it doesn’t work out, I can always come back.” The new life he’d chosen would have to be pretty dire for that to happen, but it was an option. He met her gaze squarely, and she was the first to look away.

“You’ll always have a home here,” she said, and gave him a hug of her own before ushering Vincent into the kitchen with a promise of a snack as distraction.

Sam took a deep breath, slung the duffel bag over his shoulder, and opened the front door.

He had wondered, when only his mother and brother were in the living room to see him off, if his father had been so upset at his impending departure that he was avoiding his son. Instead, he found the former soldier waiting just past the fence, leaning against the old oak tree he had helped Sam climb so many times when he was Vincent’s age. He steeled himself for a confrontation, but his father’s face was calm.

Sam wasn’t sure how long the two of them stood there in silence, each waiting for the other to speak. Finally, Sam blurted, “I thought you’d be inside. With Mom, I mean. When you weren’t, I—” He broke off, embarrassed that he had misjudged his father so badly.

The older man sighed. “I knew that if you came out the door, if the two of them hadn’t talked you out of this at the last minute, then you would really be leaving. I didn’t want to be a deciding factor. I forfeited that right, being gone for so much of your life, not being here in time—” He shook his head and didn’t finish with “to keep you from totally screwing up your life,” which he had to be thinking.

Sam certainly was. He swallowed around the aching knot in his throat, and tried to keep his voice light. “Not like I’d’ve paid any more attention to you than I did to anything else.” That was the kicker, wasn’t it? He’d felt all along that something wasn’t quite right, and had shrugged it off. The fact that he was far from alone in doing so didn’t make him feel any less foolish.

His father didn’t smile—he so rarely did, since coming home from the war—but the corners of his eyes crinkled a little at his son’s attempt at humor, before returning to complete seriousness. “I can’t claim to know what you’re going through, and I do not understand this decision you’ve made, but you’re an adult,” he said. “I had to come home to begin putting my life back together. If you need to leave in order to do the same, then you have my support.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Sam said. He managed to blink back most of the tears he’d been holding back all morning, but not before he felt one escape. “I’m going to miss you—all of you—but yeah, this is something I have to do.”

“Then may Yoba watch over you,” his father said, extending a hand. Sam took it and was pulled into a hug every bit as tight as the one he had given Vincent. “I hope you find what you’re looking for out there, but whether you do or not, remember you’ll always have a place here, if you want it.”

“I know.” He knew even the folks who were just as happy to see him go expected him back within a month, if not sooner; he was the guy who dreamed big but never stuck with anything, right? Maybe that was the only good thing to come out of his doomed relationship—for once, he was going to follow through on a plan. This was going to be a permanent departure—maybe he’d visit, once he’d been gone long enough that the thought of glimpsing certain faces across the town square no longer filled him with grief and humiliated anger, but he’d made his decision: Stardew Valley was no longer his home. He pulled away, and his father let him go. “I’ve got to go, or I’ll miss the bus,” he said.

His father nodded. “Don’t forget to write,” he said. A rare hint of a smile curved his lips. “I think Vincent snuck a few of his favorite crayons into your bag,” he said. “I’m sure he’d be thrilled if you used them.”

Sam’s answering grin felt almost natural. “I’ll do that,” he said, and walked away. Despite what he had told his father, he had a little time to spare, so he took the long route, paying a silent farewell to the town. The house next door was dark, not that he’d ever been close to the sisters that lived there. Mayor Lewis’s kitchen light was on, but the old man didn’t emerge to give Sam one last scolding, or express his relief that he was about to become someone else’s problem. The library was still closed. Gunther hadn’t seemed surprised when he’d turned in his notice the week before. No doubt he could hire someone else to sweep the floors and dust the exhibits the farmers had donated to the museum—it wasn’t like there were a lot of employment options around here. Clint’s shop was still closed, but he could hear the blacksmith pounding away at something inside, working out his frustrations with the town’s troubles in his own way. The shattered wreck of his previous place of employment loomed beside the next bridge, a banner slapped over the door announcing that remodeling work would soon begin to turn it into a movie theater. Sam snorted and turned to cross back over the river; he gave the venture a year, tops, because no one was going to come all the way out to the sticks to catch a movie they could see anywhere else, and there weren’t enough people living in Pelican Town to sustain a business like that even if they all saw a show every night. His gaze slid past the battered trailer and the house beyond it, both silent in the early morning light.

His footsteps slowed as he neared the general store, where the path up the mountain branched off. He really didn’t have time to make that big a detour; besides, the chances of Sebastian being awake at this hour were slim, and they’d said their goodbyes the day before. His one genuine regret with this plan was that he hadn’t been able to convince his best friend to come with him; Seb needed a change even more than he did. He didn’t think the other man had left his house since finding out just how many other people his girlfriend had been assuring they were her one and only—might not even have left his room, if the thick stench of tobacco smoke was any indication. At least the basement had its own bathroom, and he’d looked like he occasionally remembered to shower.

As Sam turned resolutely away from the northern path, a flutter of motion from the building just beyond caught his eye, and he glanced up to see a flash of purple withdraw from an upstairs window. He lingered a little, wondering if Abigail might come out to see him off, but as the minutes slipped by, no one appeared. He set his jaw and kept walking, disappointed but not surprised.

Discovering you’d both been dating the same guy for months could put a real strain on a friendship.

He spared one final glare for the dirt road that led to the farmstead as he reached the turnoff to the bus stop. Sure, he’d told his mother not to blame the farmers, but it was advice he was having trouble following for himself. If they’d never come here…

If he was being honest with himself—and he was trying to be—he knew he’d still be working a dead-end, part-time job sweeping floors at the JojaMart that had been slowly draining the remaining life out of the town. Still letting boredom and restlessness drive him into escalating pranks that inevitably led to weeks or months of community service when he pushed things too far. Still wondering if he’d ever get a date again, now that high school was over and the only single guys in town were straight or jerks or both. Still wishing something interesting would happen.

He’d gotten his wish, all right. He turned away from the farm road and studied his feet as they carried him along the dirt path toward the spill of light from the waiting bus.

“‘Bout time you got here, kid. Couple more minutes and I’d’ve had to leave without you.”

His head jerked up at the unexpected familiar voice. This wasn’t Pam’s route, which didn’t start up for hours. He’d been counting on that, for Yoba’s sake, but there she was, leaning against the side of the bus. “Oh, um. Hi.” The last thing he needed was her chewing him out for the hour-long drive to the city. But though her expression was bleary—he wasn’t sure whether to be alarmed or reassured by the enormous travel mug beside the empty driver’s seat—it wasn’t hostile. “I’m going to Zuzu, not the desert?” He unslung the duffle bag and set it by his feet, fishing for his ticket and wondering if he’d manage to get the times mixed up.

She snorted. “I know that. Traded routes with Barry for the day. That really all you’re taking with you?”

“Yeah. Some clothes, shaving kit, couple of personal things. Everything else I’ll need comes with the deal.”

“I thought you’d have your guitar.”

Sam shrugged. “Too big for the luggage allowance. Maybe Vince’ll pick it up when he gets a bit older.”

Pam frowned at that. “You three were pretty good, and I’m not the only one who thought so.”

“Thanks, but I’m not cut out to be a solo act.” Besides, the packing guidelines he’d been sent had warned against bringing anything that wasn’t battery-powered, because the electrical grids were completely different. He’d almost changed his mind at the last minute, anyway, but the guitar held too many memories, and even the good ones were tainted by what had come after. The ticket in his hand crinkled, and he made his grip relax. “You’ve got a schedule to keep, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Gimme that and get on board. Sit up front, would you? I skipped the saloon last night so I could get up this blasted early, but company’ll help more than coffee to keep me alert.”

He was pretty sure she was joking about the last bit, but the bus careening off the road would be a bad start to his new life. He stuffed his bag into the rack over the first bench.

Despite her words, it took a couple of miles for her to speak again. “Look, Samson…” He winced; here it came. Abby wasn’t the only friend he’d lost over this mess. Pam let out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t get up at the buttcrack of dawn to yell at you, kid. I just figured you oughta have a friendly face to send you off.”

“Yeah?” He looked up, and she caught his gaze in the mirror for a moment before shifting her eyes back to the road.

Another sigh, or perhaps it was more of a growl. “I told Penny that guy was trouble, right from the start,” she said. She looked out the side window. “She’d already heard me say that sort of crap so many times, she figured it was just more of my bitterness. Now, she doesn’t know whether to be mad at me for being right, or for not being able to convince her of it sooner. Maybe if I’d figured out what kind of trouble he was, she’d’ve listened. Or… someone else, if I’d known who to tell.”

It was, he thought, as close to an apology as she was going to come, and more of one than he deserved. “He had everyone in town fooled. They all did.” The signs had been there, all too clear in hindsight, but he’d closed his eyes to them in the moment.

She snorted. “Eh. I’ll admit I hoped I was wrong, but I never trusted ’em. Men are jerks, kid, and we ladies aren’t any better. You’ve probably got the right idea, walking away from the whole lot of us. That said, you’re one of the better ones. You might have more mischief in you than a whole den of foxes, but your tricks have never been mean. And you’re one of the few who never treated my little girl like she was less than, just ’cause we live in a trailer instead of a proper house.”

It didn’t seem like a good time to try explaining that, as a little kid still stinging from the sudden move out of the city into a strange new town, having a home you could take with you seemed pretty amazing, and he had thought Penny was the luckiest person he’d ever met. The fact that she didn’t have a father in the picture hadn’t seemed strange, either, since his own was gone so much. By the time he’d been aware enough to understand why some people looked down on her and Pam… “Penny’s the sweetest, kindest person I’ve ever met, and anyone who can’t see that’s an idiot,” he said. She had been, anyway. He hadn’t realized she’d even known some of the words she’d flung at him when she’d found out—as if he hadn’t been just as shocked as she was! She hadn’t spoken to him since, and when he’d tried to change that as she walked Vincent home from his lessons, her eyes had been cold as Winter.

Pam’s bark of laughter had no humor in it. “Doubt you’d believe it, but there were folks that would’ve said the same about me, way back when. Sugar turns bitter when it gets burned, and what that jerk did—well, I’d say it’s worse than her daddy walking out, ’cept at least she’s not trying to raise a baby on her own on top of it all.”

Sam leaned his head back against the cool glass of the window. Thank Yoba for small mercies, he supposed; Ian had been lying, cheating scum, but at least he’d been careful scum. “I hope—” I hope she doesn’t turn out like you would be rude, especially when Pam was trying so hard to be kind.

He suspected she’d heard what he hadn’t said, anyway, because she grunted softly. “Yeah, kid, so do I.” The bus was slowing, another bus stop drawing into view, a real one with proper benches and a shelter and several people waiting to board. Pam looked over the passengers as she pulled in. “Got a wheelchair to bring on. Sorry, kid, gonna need that spot.”

“No prob,” he said, standing up as the bus came to a stop. He found the catch and raised the bench’s seat, then collected his bag from the rack. “And… thanks, Pam.”

“Least I could do. In case I don’t get another chance to say it, good luck out there.”

He thanked her again and retreated to the back of the bus. He stared out the window for a while, but watching the hills and trees whoosh by only reminded him of everything he was leaving behind. As the bus pulled away from the Grampleton stop, the halfway mark to Zuzu, he pulled out the brochure that had started him down this road and studied it, for a distraction.

_“Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package”_

* * *

By the time Sam finally reached the next-to-last waypoint of his journey, all of his hope and worry and curiosity had blurred into a gray haze of exhaustion. The flight out of Zuzu had been delayed, and he’d sprinted across the connecting airport, arriving just before they closed the boarding doors, only to realize far too late that he’d left his favorite denim jacket in the overhead bin. He’d tried to nap on the second flight, to make up for all the sleep he hadn’t gotten, but the same nerves that had kept him awake the night before made him too restless to doze for more than a few minutes at a time. To top it all off, despite going over his packing list several times, his hair gel hadn’t made it into his bag. Of course the final leg of his flight was out of a tiny airport with only a coffee-and-sandwich shop, so he couldn’t replace it, and the careful spikes he’d started out with were long gone. He had wanted to make a good impression on anyone making this trip with him; instead, his hair looked like a rat’s nest.

He spotted the logo he was looking for, approached the check-in desk, and reminded himself that he should watch his choice of metaphors, or it wasn’t his hair that was going to be making the wrong impression. The two people standing behind the counter weren’t rats, but tanuki, both about the same height as his little brother, although he didn’t know if that meant they were young, or if their species was one of the more diminutive ones. He had done some research in the week since he’d first come across the brochure, but there wasn’t a lot of communication between Ferngill and Crossing, where humans made up a small minority of the population. I’m actually going to do this, huh? He took a deep breath. “Um, hi, I’m—”

“Good afternoon!” The two spoke almost in unison, one about half a syllable behind the other. “We’re so excited to have you here! Let us be the first to congratulate you on your wise decision to sign up for this adventure.”

Well, they certainly were the first to do so. “Thanks, I—”

“Welcome… to the check-in counter for your Deserted Island Getaway Package!” Sam took half a step back at their sudden, loud enthusiasm. “There is so much to look forward to! But first, let us introduce ourselves.” The one on Sam’s right continued alone. “I’m Timmy with Nook Inc.”

“And I’m Tommy!” the other put in.

“We’ll be flying to the island with you to help you get settled,” Timmy continued, and Tommy started echoing him again. Sam wasn’t sure if it was cute or eerie, and wondered if they were twins. “Think of us as your partners. We’re in it for the long haul. So, let’s get started, shall we?”

“Sure, I can’t wait,” Sam said, trying to match their cheer despite how tired he was.

“Now then, we’ll need to look up your application. Can we have your name and birthday?”

“I’m Sam,” he said, taking his passport out of the inner pocket of his jacket. “July 26.”

“Sam… Sam… Let’s see…” How many people were signed up for this trip, anyway? It wouldn’t be much of a deserted island with enough people there that they would be having trouble finding his name. Finally: “Oh! Yes, here you are! Our next step will be to take a picture of you, Sam.” He couldn’t help a wince, remembering what he’d seen in the mirror in the airport bathroom. “Oh, don’t worry! Take as much time as you need to get yourself looking just the way you want. We’ll be ready when you are! And you can always update your records with a new photo later.”

That was a relief; his Ferngill passport was old enough that the picture barely looked like him, but getting that updated would have delayed his trip by months, and he had wanted to get out of town ASAP. “Good to know. You can go ahead and take the photo now, this is as good as—” He hadn’t even noticed Tommy pull out a camera until the flash went off.

“Great! You’re all set,” Timmy said, tapping a few keys on the keyboard beside him.

“…all set!” Tommy echoed, turning around for a moment to take something off a printer.

“I’ll just go ahead and add that picture to your records. And now… let’s start talking about your new home. So exciting!”

The two certainly had no shortage of eagerness, and Sam could feel his own spirits picking back up as they went over the options. The lengthy records search was explained: Nook Inc. had control of hundreds of tiny islands stretching the entire length of the Crossing coast. Each would have only a handful of campers, and the two tanuki were scheduled to travel with whichever the next flight to leave was—and that happened to be his. He briefly contemplated going all the way to the southern hemisphere, but winter wasn’t his favorite season and it would soon be snowing down south. He couldn’t tell much about the northern hemisphere islands themselves from the maps they showed him, but he picked one that had a nice symmetry to it, with a river flowing down from the northeast and forking around a large central area.

“Wonderful choice!” Timmy said, his echo half a beat behind, as usual. It was already getting easier to understand the two of them when they talked that way. “I can’t wait to show it off to you. Ah, but before we depart, I have just one final question for you…” He stared at Sam, his large, dark eyes far more serious than they had been up to this point, and Sam felt a stir of unease. “If you could only bring ONE thing with you to a deserted island, what would it be?”

“Something to kill time,” he said, then wondered if he should try to take that back. They weren’t seriously suggesting he could only take one thing with him, were they?

“How interesting…” Tommy nudged Timmy, and the more talkative tanuki’s eyes widened. “Oh! I’m sorry, that was just a hypothetical question. Nook Inc. will fully cover all of your basic needs! Yes, yes!”

Sam’s sigh of relief was drowned out by the chime of the airport intercom system. “Your attention please,” a computer-ish sounding voice said. “This is a service announcement. The chartered flight for Nook Inc’s Deserted Island Getaway Package is ready for boarding. Any customers waiting to board should make their way to the gate at this time.”

Before he could ask whether that meant him or if the plane in question was heading to another island, the two tanuki grinned in unison “Ah, perfect timing! C’mon! Let’s all board the plane together!” They closed down the desk with astonishing speed and led Sam down the airport corridor to a gate. He hesitated at the end of the jetway, because there was only a set of stairs leading down to the tarmac, but he shrugged and followed his guides across the pavement. A small seaplane waited at the edge of the water, and the three of them boarded.

His exhaustion catching up with him in earnest, Sam barely registered the presence of a few other people—none of them human, which was the idea, after all—as he dropped into his seat. A prerecorded voice thanked the passengers for their presence and directed their attention to a video presentation on the screen at the front of the cabin, but as soothing music began to play, Sam’s eyelids drooped, then closed.

He jerked awake some unknown of stretch time later, as the plane hit bad turbulence—no, he realized, glancing out the window; it had hit water, not rough air. Since no one else seemed concerned about this, he assumed they’d reached their destination. He rubbed his eyes as the other passengers began standing, and checked his watch; he’d been asleep for a couple of hours. He collected his duffel and followed Timmy and Tommy out of the plane.

The smell of fresh paint hovered in the air inside the tiny airport, and sawdust and other signs of hasty construction lingered in the corners as they were ushered outside. Sam raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight as he emerged onto a rough wooden dock and got a look at his new neighbors for the first time. Before he could introduce himself, one of the tanuki—he thought it was Timmy—said, “We’re here! Now, I know you must be incredibly excited to explore your new island home, but I have one small request. Would you please join us for a short orientation session in the nearby plaza? Our fearless leader himself will be giving a presentation, so I’d hate for you to miss it. We’re heading there right now if you’d like to follow us!” Both of them turned and walked down the ramp from the airport dock onto the island itself.

Sam turned toward the nearest of his traveling companions, a purple frog about the same height as the tanuki. “Hi, I’m Sam,” he began.

The frog gave him a cheerful grin but said, “Come on, we gotta follow the guides!” and hurried after the tanuki.

The other, a cat who looked like he thought he was at a comic convention, cosplay helmet and all, shook his head when Sam opened his mouth again. “Follow the guides! Let’s hustle!” Sam shrugged and walked down the dock to the shore.

His steps slowed as he looked around. Thick green grass and tangles of weeds carpeted the ground, and some of the trees had what looked like cherries growing on them. He hoped they were edible; he’d always liked fresh fruit. Off in the hazy distance, beyond a river that looked much wider than it had on the map, he could see shallow cliffs dotted with wildflowers of some sort. He had fallen behind, he realized, and he broke into a jog to catch up.

Timmy and Tommy waited in the middle of a square of bare dirt edged with boards; they were flanking a third tanuki, this one nearly Sam’s height. Timmy clapped his hands as Sam joined the others “Alright, is that everyone? Let’s see… Is Diva here?” The frog raised a hand. “And how about Kid Cat?” No question who that was. Since there were only three of them, and they’d all been on the same flight, he was pretty sure this “roll call” was more about introducing everyone than making sure someone hadn’t disappeared along the way. “And there’s Sam, of course!” Sam lifted a hand and offered up as cheerful a grin as he could manage. There was a large green tent at the back of the roughed-out “plaza,” but it surely wasn’t big enough for the six people gathered here, and all he really wanted to do was find out where he was supposed to be sleeping so he could do so. “Great! We’re all here. I’ll turn it over to you, Mr. Nook. Our three adventurers are ready to get started!”

“Yes, yes! Very good! Let’s see, how shall I begin…” He tried to focus as the tanuki—none other than Tom Nook, the company founder—introduced himself and welcomed them to their new home, but he sounded so much like Mayor Lewis giving a speech that most of Sam’s attention was on not dozing off on his feet. He did manage to catch that they were being issued tents of their own, which they could set up wherever they wanted. And that at present, the only restroom on the island was the one in the airport, which they were welcome to use even though the flight desk wasn’t open for business yet. He collected a compact bundle of nylon and hardware from Tommy, who also gave him a map, the small laminated paper not much bigger than the sketches from which he’d chosen his island.

The other “adventurers” seemed inclined to stick close to the plaza, and Sam wandered off in the opposite direction. He found a spot near the beach where there looked to be plenty of room for a tent. He set the bundle at his feet and stared at it, realizing he had no clue how to set up a tent. He raked a hand through his hair, still stiff with the remains of his hair gel. “Okay, here’s hoping there are instructions inside,” he muttered as he unbuckled the straps around the bundle.

Instead, as the outer layer of the bundle unrolled, an electronic beeping sounded from somewhere deeper inside the package. “Build here?” a tinny voice inquired as a shimmer of light roughed out a rectangular area of the ground.

Sam’s eyebrows rose; he’d heard that Crossing had a tighter integration between magic and technology than Ferngill, but this was the first he’d seen of it. And he still had no idea what he was supposed to actually do. “Uh, is this a good spot for my tent?” In response, the light on the ground shimmered and rose into a triangular yellow projection. He shrugged; there weren’t any trees in the way, so it would probably be fine. “Okay, I guess this is it.” He watched as the tent frame unfolded from the bundle, sinking lines into the ground to draw the fabric draped over it taut. “That is seriously cool,” Sam murmured. He ducked his head inside and was disappointed to find it empty. He supposed there wasn’t room inside the tent package for a sleeping bag, but he wasn’t tired enough to try to sleep on the nylon floor—yet. He sighed and backed out, lowering the door behind him, and headed for the plaza.

Halfway there he found the frog staring into space in a clearing between the trees. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked.

“You’re… wait, I got it, don’t tell me… You’re Sam! Right?”

He smiled. “Yup, that’s me. And you’re Diva?”

“Right! You already found a good spot, huh? I was tryin’ to just feel for the best spot, but I was havin’ trouble ’cause every spot feels like the best one. I couldn’t just sit here thinkin’ it over forever, so I grabbed a stick and threw it… and here’s where it landed. So now this is my spot!” However, she made no move to set up her tent, and it sounded like she was trying to talk herself into liking the location.

Sam rubbed a hand over his face. All he really wanted to do was collect a sleeping bag from the tanuki and fall into it, but if this was going to be one of his neighbors for the foreseeable future, he would rather she was actually happy with where she was. “Well… what do you like best about the island, so far?”

“Oh, that’s easy—the river! It’s so clear you can see the shadows of the fish swimming along the bottom, and I love the way it sounds.” And yet, the spot where her stick had fallen was nowhere near the water. A couple more questions determined that she liked to be around people, which Sam could understand even if he didn’t currently share that desire. By the time they settled on the idea of setting up her tent near the fork in the river, north of the plaza, he’d decided the two could easily be friends. She seemed like the type who wanted to be a big sister to everyone, but she wasn’t overbearing about it. He didn’t even mind when she suggested he find their other neighbor, since he wasn’t back at the plaza yet. Maybe he was getting his second wind?

As the frog had suspected, Kid Cat was also waffling over where to set up his tent, and it was a struggle for Sam not to let the fact that the cat reminded him painfully of Alex color his reactions. At least Kid Cat seemed to be the sort of jock who assumed everyone else was as into—and as good at—sports and fitness as he was, not the type that looked down on everyone with a less athletic build. And he was happy enough to accept Sam’s help, and pleased to be settled in at last, a bit east of the plaza, where he would have plenty of space (far from Sam’s tent) for whatever workouts he had planned.

By the time everyone was gathered back together, the sun was low enough in the sky that the bare dirt of the plaza was turning even redder. Sam bit back a groan as Tom Nook declared that they would be throwing a party to celebrate their arrival; normally he would be all for it, but he just wanted to sleep. The tanuki was right, though; with just the few of them living here, they’d need to work together. He didn’t argue when tasked to gather up some additional firewood; they had plenty of larger logs already stacked in the corner of the plaza, but needed smaller branches for kindling. There were no shortage of those, and upon returning he was happy to learn that Nook’s analysis of the fruit growing on the trees indicated they were edible cherries. He didn’t even mind being sent back out to fetch enough for everyone to share.

As the last bit of sunlight faded from the sky, Nook lit the bonfire they’d built in the middle of the plaza and… gave another speech. The guy really was a furry Lewis, wasn’t he? Hopefully the similarities wouldn’t extend to viewing Sam as a troublemaker. He shook his head; he’d left all that behind, hadn’t he? He was making a fresh start here.

When Nook asked for suggestions of what to name their island, however, his thoughts were still back in the valley, and he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Stardrop.” He felt his cheeks heat as everyone looked at him curiously. Hopefully they’d go with Diva’s suggestion—“Rocksalot” had a nice ring to it—and not Kid Cat’s ridiculous “Buffburg” idea. But when it came to the vote…

“Wow! That’s an overwhelmingly positive response!” Nook beamed at Sam, who was staring in shock at the others. “I suppose if everyone is in agreement… we could just go with Stardrop!” He was too startled to object when Nook named him the “resident representative,” whatever that entailed. “Could you please say a word or two as the new spokesperson for your neighbors?”

“Uh… a word or two?” Sam stammered. Diva laughed like she’d thought he was making a joke instead of trying to figure out how he’d ended up as some sort of authority figure—well, demi-authority, since it was clear Nook was the one really running things. He took a deep breath. “Well, I’ll do my best. Thanks, everyone.” Nook called for a toast, and he found himself wishing the cherry juice had been aged into wine rather than freshly pressed. Didn’t they know he was Sam the Screw-up, who never followed through on anything?

Well… no, they didn’t. And he was here, not back in the valley still wondering if maybe this was something he should try. He’d just have to live up to the trust they’d placed in him. He exchanged a few more words with his new neighbors; Diva told him it felt like they’d been best buds for ages already, which he was sure she meant to sound nice but instead reminded him of the real best friend he’d abandoned back in Pelican Town. It was almost a relief, talking to Kid Cat, who was focused on the new cardio routine he was planning to start the next day. In any case, neither of them seemed to resent his being volunteered as their representative. But now he really needed to hit the sack, which meant he first needed to find one. He approached the three tanuki standing by the large green tent they had dubbed “Resident Services.”

Tommy, the quiet one, looked up from the little pennant he was fiddling with as Sam drew near and offered a shy smile. “Stardrop… Stardrop… What a great name! Just rolls of the tongue. Thank you for offering such a wonderful idea to the group.”

Sam rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Well, I’m glad people like it. That was the first thing that sprang to mind, but I didn’t really expect it to get chosen.”

“What does it mean, anyway?”

“It’s an old Ferngill folktale,” he said. “A stardrop is supposed to be this magical fruit that tastes like everything you’ve ever loved. It makes you stronger, or grants wishes, or stuff like that, depending on what version of the story it is.”

Timmy joined his… brother? Friend? Doppelgänger? “That’s quite a name. I hope we can make this island worthy of it. We’re here to act as your support staff, but we’ve never lived on an uninhabited island before, either. I’m not sure how helpful we’ll be in this unfamiliar place, but… we’ll rely on each other as fellow residents!”

In other words, he’d better not screw this one up, he thought. Tom Nook was standing close enough to hear the conversation, but he didn’t join in until Sam looked directly at him. “Ah, Sam, having a good time, yes?” His gaze turned penetrating, and his next words hinted that his jet lag was showing. “I know this is all a bit much, so if you feel like taking a short nap in your tent, by all means, go ahead. We’ll keep the fire burning.”

Sam forced a grin—nap, yes; short, no. “Maybe I’ll go do that,” he said.

“Sounds good to me! But first, you’ll probably want this…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out…

“A leaf?” It didn’t feel quite like a real leaf, and it had a curious heft to it.

“It’s your very own camping cot!” Nook said proudly. “You’ll want to set it up in your tent before you lie down. Oh, and there are a few packages waiting in your tent as well, hm? Just a few items that might be useful.”

Sam stared down at the leaf. Right, he had read about this—a kind of storage magic developed by the tanuki. Hopefully getting the cot out of the leaf would be as easy as setting up the tent, because he didn’t think it would make a very good pillow on its own. They must have delivered the other packages while he was helping the others set up their tents, and he hoped they weren’t going to make a regular habit of entering uninvited, but it seemed rude to say anything about it. “Thanks. I’m going to turn in now.”

Nook smiled at him. “We’ve got another big day ahead of us tomorrow, so rest up as much as you can tonight. Yes, yes, that’s all from me for now. Sweet dreams, Sam!”

“Thanks,” he said, and struck out for his tent. He was sure he’d be grateful for the privacy later, but at the moment he found himself wishing he hadn’t set it up quite so far from the plaza and its firelight. Fortunately, the crescent moon overhead gave enough light to pick out the bright yellow of his tent, and he found his way through weeds without tripping over branches (or his own feet) too many times. The “packages” contained a lantern and a small radio, both of which he switched on. The cot popped out of the leaf as soon as he thought about setting it up; grey camouflage would not have been his choice, but it beat a sleeping bag. As he stretched out on the taut surface, the radio transitioned from ad chatter to music. Huh. I recognize that one, he thought as his head touched the pillow. It was by that dog musician that had started making waves even in Ferngill. K.K… Something. He closed his eyes without bothering to switch off the lamp, but the light didn’t keep him from falling asleep at once.


	2. May 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam learns more about life in Crossing, gets to know his neighbors a little better, and begins studying the local wildlife, until a chance discovery stirs up memory and heartache.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor content warning - Sam has a run-in with the island's wasps, so if you, like me, nearly pitched the Switch across the room in shock when that little surprise first fell from a tree, be warned.

Sam groaned and tried to yank the blankets over his head as someone called his name, but his hands didn't find anything to pull. He opened his eyes, wincing at the sunlight streaming through the bright yellow nylon overhead. "Oh, I hope I haven't woken you abruptly," said a sort-of-familiar voice from somewhere outside. "Ah, but I do wish to discuss something with you. Yes, yes! I'll be here when you're ready."

He sat up slowly, rubbing his hands over his face. The radio on the floor beside his cot was still on, playing another song by that K.K. guy, which perhaps explained why all he could remember of his dreams was a dog with a guitar lecturing him about the importance of friendship. Weird, but an improvement over what had haunted his sleep for the last few weeks. "I'm up," he called through the tent wall. "Give me a minute." He dragged a hand through his hair. The airport restroom hadn't had a shower, that he'd seen. He looked himself over; his clothes were kind of rumpled, but the idea of putting on clean ones before he figured out bathing facilities made his skin crawl. He slipped his shoes on and unzipped the door of his tent.

Tom Nook was waiting for him outside. "Ah, there you are. I hope you had a pleasant nap. Or, well… I suppose it was a bit more than a nap, wasn't it. It's a brand new day!" The tanuki sounded entirely too cheerful about the fact.

"Yeah, I guess I needed the sleep," Sam said. He could do with a couple more hours, in fact.

"Oh ho ho! Yes, it's quite normal to be worn out from such a long trip — and a major life event!"

Sam eyed Nook, wondering if word of just why he'd applied for the getaway package had preceded him, but the tanuki seemed to be referring only to the move itself. He proceeded to give Sam a smartphone that would work with the local network — only a few apps, with no obvious option to download more, but he hadn't expected even this much. "Thanks, this'll come in handy."

Nook nodded and held out a sheet of paper. "I have one more thing for you… It's your itemized bill!" He sounded even more chipper than before as he listed the various expenses associated with the trip, and Sam braced himself; he'd known this was coming, though not the exact amount. Still…

"Bells?" He hadn't been able to figure out how to exchange what little savings he had into Crossing's currency, but the information on the package had indicated that he would be able to pay off the cost over time, no upfront funds needed. He wasn't sure how much a "Bell" was worth, but nearly fifty thousand of them sounded like a lot.

"Oh ho ho! Good one, Sam." Nook looked at him as if expecting a punchline. "Wait — you're being serious! Yes, of course… I can't believe I didn't think of this… I knew there would be complications, accepting applications from outside Crossing. Well, Bells are what we call our currency here. Ah, but there's still the problem that you don't actually  have any… Yes! Of course! Well, no need to worry! I was prepared for exactly this type of tricky situation. For the getaway package, you can pay your fees with miles instead of the standard Bells." The tanuki went on to explain his "mileage program," and when he finally left, Sam opened up the new app on his phone and shook his head. He'd traveled halfway across the world from Mayor Lewis… and he was still going to be stuck with a ton of community service. Well, they were building a settlement from scratch; he'd be doing this sort of stuff anyway, and the fact that it would also pay off his debt was a bonus. He tucked the bill into his jeans pocket and looked around. The morning air was cool without being cold, the sun was shining brightly, and he was thousands of miles away from Stardew Valley and all its heartache. His new life was officially underway, and he could do whatever he wanted.

Since he was pretty sure the Resident Services tent wasn't hiding a shower, either, he pulled his towel and a bar of soap out of his duffel and found a shallow spot in the river where the current didn't look too fast. No one else was around, but he still kept his boxers on while he scrubbed down in the chilly water. He was definitely going to have to find a better solution to bathing, he thought as something scaly brushed against his ankle. The soap probably wasn't great for the things living in the water, either, even if it was the "all-natural" stuff his mother had started buying from Pierre after the JojaMart went under. But it felt good to get the old gel out of his hair, even if it was going to look almost as ridiculous when it dried.

Back in his tent, he changed into a clean shirt and jeans. Hanging out "at home" for the day wasn't an option; with the sun shining directly on the nylon, the place felt like a sauna. He fled the heat for the great outdoors and found Diva wandering among the tall weeds, carrying a crude butterfly net. "Good morning," he said.

"Yo, Sam! I'm getting a real good vibe from the tent plot you picked for me. Thanks for the hand!"

"I'm glad it's working out for you," he said.

"We've gotta look out for each other here. If you ever need anything, don't be shy, ya know! Oh yeah!" She pulled what looked like a large playing card out of her pocket and handed it to him. "I was thinking about how to thank you, and I came up with a recipe for a leaf umbrella!" He stared at the card as she explained how she'd come up with the idea; the only thing on it that he could understand was the notation at the top that a certain amount of freshly pulled weeds were needed; the rest was a weird diagram labeled with words that meant nothing to him in this context. Diva wound down, apparently noticing his confusion. "If you've never done a DIY project before, you should ask Tom Nook to help you out. He's doing free DIY demos over at Resident Services."

"I'll have to check that out," he said, putting the card in his pocket. "Thanks, Diva." He headed toward the big green tent.

Before he reached it, he ran into Kid Cat, also armed with a net. "Thanks again for finding a place for my, uh, place!" He handed Sam a black denim baseball cap before returning to stalking a grasshopper.

Sam turned the hat over in his hands a couple of times, then shrugged and put it on to cover up the damp, shaggy mess of his hair.

One of the smaller tanuki was wandering around the plaza, clutching an orange pennant. "Hi, um, Tommy?" he guessed, based on which of them had been holding a flag like that the night before.

"Oh, Sam! It's great to see you!" Definitely Tommy; his voice was just a little softer than Timmy's. "That campfire was a lot of fun." He explained that the Resident Services tent would be open around the clock, and during the day he would be outside to offer advice and support. He also recommended the workshop Diva had mentioned, so Sam headed into the tent to see what the fuss was all about.

Tom Nook and Timmy looked up from a quiet discussion as he entered. "Good morning, Sam! Feel free to help yourself to breakfast," Timmy said, pointing to a box of donuts and a teapot in one corner of the tent. "We'll have food out around mealtimes — I can't promise too much variety, but there'll be snacks and sandwiches and that sort of thing."

Sam hadn't realized how hungry he was until the scent of sugary pastry hit him, and he took a chocolate-frosted donut and a mug of tea. "Thanks." He perched on top of a plastic bin, and as he ate the two filled him in on what else the "services" in the tent's name included. There was a banking machine in one corner, which would allow him to deposit, withdraw, and even spend Bells, once he had any; the lack could be addressed by Timmy, who Nook assured him would purchase just about anything he wanted to sell at a fair price. The box he was sitting was for recycling; he took a peek inside and laid claim to a sturdy-looking cardboard box that looked about the right size to use as a bedside table. He set it aside to take home later as Nook brought up the subject of his workshop, which would cover how to make a few simple tools that would be useful for island living.

"Oh, if you'd like that, please go ahead and put it in your pocket," the tanuki said, pointing at the box. "Otherwise someone else is likely to pick it up."

Sam looked down at his jeans. "I, uh, don't think it'll fit. I'll take it with me when we're done, though."

Nook looked at him blankly for a moment. "Oh! Of course you wouldn't have a proper pocket. Should have thought of that sooner, yes, yes!" He rummaged through a box and pulled out what looked for all the world like the pocket sewn into his jeans, except made out of a shimmery material that was hard to focus on. "Here you are! Just don't forget to transfer it over when you change clothes — you wouldn't want everything in it getting soggy in the wash, yes, yes!"

Sam started to reach out, but he pulled his hand back. "Uh, how many Bells is this going to add to my bill?"

Nook shook his head. "Oh, there's no charge! Everyone here has one — it's a public utility. Now, should you ever decide to leave Crossing, we'll need to take that back — very strict export controls, you know."

Sam took the pocket. "Everyone? Really?" He took the card Diva had given him out of his jeans pocket and slipped the bespelled fabric into its place.

"Oh, yes. I'm surprised you didn't have something like it already — I believe they have similar products in Ferngill, though I understand they're a bit more unwieldy.

"They're also really expensive." The only people in Pelican Town who had been able to afford the space-compressing backpacks Pierre had carried were the farmers, so while he'd seen them used he'd never dreamed of having anything like it himself. "Thank you." He picked up the box and thought about putting it away; it folded up into a leaf like the one his cot had come out of, and he slipped it into his pocket, followed by the recipe card. For all he could feel through the denim of his jeans, there was nothing there.

Nook clapped his hands together. "So, about that workshop! Oh, I suppose 'workshop' is overselling it a bit, hm? When you see how simple it is to DIY, or 'do it yourself,' you'll understand what I mean."

As he explained, Sam's heart sank. "Oh. You're talking about crafting," he said. "I guess it's different here, but most humans don't have enough magic to do that." Ian and his siblings could, but — he tried to drag his thoughts back to the present. "I know I don't."

Nook tutted at him. "Ah, but you've never tried with the support of a proper workbench, have you? Crafting with just the materials at hand is quite tricky, yes, yes, but the right tools make all the difference! Do at least give it a try. For this particular recipe, we require a mere five tree branches. It is, admittedly, a little flimsy… but the materials to make replacements are abundant! Now then, come see me once you've collected the materials, hm?"

Sam shrugged; the worst that could happen was nothing, after all. He left the tent and started looking for sticks.

Between last night's bonfire and the other residents' gathering, there weren't many to be found on the ground. He looked up into the branches of a tree and could see a few that looked loose, so he gave the trunk a sharp shake. Leaves fluttered toward him, followed by —

"Oh, crap!" Sam flailed at the wasps that came boiling out of the nest he'd knocked down, thought too late about making a break for the Resident Services tent, and swore as he felt the first couple of stings. Fortunately, the insects seemed content with that quick warning, though he could already feel parts of his face beginning to swell as they flew away with an angry buzz. "Ow…" He prodded at a growing lump near his eye — they hadn't quite gotten the eyelid, thank Yoba, but the surrounding puffiness was making it painful to keep the eye open. He felt a little dizzy, too, and he hoped that was just the adrenaline and not a sign he was allergic to the local hornets. Or that they were extra-toxic or something…

He caught a blur of red in the corner of his good eye and turned to find Kid Cat not far away. "Uh, hey, do you know —"

The cat did a double-take upon seeing him. "Ew! Um… Maybe you're going for a new look, but that seems a little bit extreme, psst," he said. He edged away as if worried whatever Sam had might be catching.

It might be spiteful of him, but Sam decided not to warn the other guy about the danger in the trees. At least that ridiculous helmet had a visor, so the cat wouldn't have to worry about getting stung in the eyes. Sam sat down at the edge of the plaza and tried to decide if his racing heart was a normal reaction or a sign of a bigger problem.

"Waah!" He looked up at the yelp of surprise; Diva was staring at him, appalled. "Why's your face all gnarly? Were you in a fight? Who was it? Where are they?!" She clutched her bug net like she was ready to whack his attacker over the head.

In spite of his aching face, Sam couldn't help a laugh. He pointed at the fallen nest. "Found that in a tree. The residents didn't appreciate it."

"Oh! A wasp stung you!" She gave a relieved little chuckle. "Well, that's a cinch! You just gotta dab a bit of medicine on the sting. That'll fix you right up!"

"What sort of medicine?"

"Timmy's got plenty of it in stock," she told him. "It's only a few hundred bells — bring him that empty nest and that'll cover most of the price!" She shook her head. "And get yourself a net before you go shaking more trees, ya know! If you're quick, you can get them before they get you! They're a little spicy for my taste, but you can probably get good money for them."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, bemused. As she walked off, he levered himself up to his feet. Approaching the wasp nest sounded like a bad idea, but after watching it for a while he decided that the former owners had abandoned it. Gingerly, he picked it up and stuffed it into his pocket before he could second-guess himself. Diva had said it would cover  most of the price, though, and he didn't have anything else to sell. No, wait, hadn't Timmy said they'd pay for weed removal? He pulled up handfuls of the dandelions and other, less familiar plants that crowded out the grass; if this wasn't enough, he could always come back out for more.

Timmy's eyes widened as he staggered back through the tent door. "Oh, dear. I expect you want to buy some medicine, don't you?" He held up a white paper packet with a blue label. He glanced over his shoulder at Nook, who looked to be preoccupied with his phone, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Er, do you have anything to sell, first? I'm not allowed to offer credit, that's the boss's thing."

Sam took out the nest and weeds. "If this isn't enough, I can get more…"

Timmy ran a practiced eye over the pile and nodded. "Let's see, I can give you 450 Bells for all of it," he said. "The medicine's only 400."

"Great, sounds good to me," Sam said, and Timmy handed over the packet and a few coins.

"Just dab that on the stings and you'll be good as new in no time!" Timmy said.

"Thanks." He tore open the package on the spot and did as instructed. The relief was immediate, and the swelling went down fast enough that there had to be magic involved. "Wow, that's some pretty potent stuff."

"We only carry the best!" Timmy said. "Do you want to take a look at the rest of my stock?"

"Not right now," he said.

Nook picked that moment to look up from his phone. "Ah, Sam, did you collect the branches you need?"

"Not yet. The first one I went for was guarded by attack wasps. A little warning would have been nice."

Nook winced. "Oh, dear. We don't know much about the local fauna, I'm afraid. The butterflies and such I've seen flitting about seemed harmless enough."

Sam shrugged and reached for the tent flap. "I'm going to go see about those branches." He headed for the tree he'd initially tried; with the wasps gone maybe he could get those other twigs down. A few quick shakes provided him with enough for the workshop, useless as it was likely to be, and he returned to the tent.

"Now, crafting is the process of taking the essence of the source materials and reshaping them into a new form," Nook said. "A few people have the ability to do this by will alone. Fortunately for everyone else, one of those gifted souls came up with a way to make the process more accessible! You can use a recipe — I'll send you the app to store them in a moment — to tell a workbench which essences to extract and what to do with them. For now, the one in here is connected to my phone, so just set the materials right there on the mat."

Sam placed the branches he'd gathered where Nook indicated and a set of unfamiliar symbols appeared in the air above them, similar to the ones on the card Diva had given him. Following Nook's directions, he slid the symbols around according to the diagram on the recipe, and before long the sticks had turned into a fishing rod, complete with line, bobber, hook, and lure. "Wow!"

"Yes! That was perfect," Nook said, clapping. "As you can see, crafting is quite simple, provided you have the correct recipes, hm?" Nook concluded the workshop by sending him the app he'd mentioned along with a few free crafts, including the fishing rod and a net like the ones he'd seen the others carrying. "And the flimsy fishing rod you just crafted is yours to keep! It may not last forever, but it should serve you well for a little while, at least." He proceeded to offer up a few general tips about fishing, and then asked Sam to show him anything he caught, so they could learn more about the local wildlife. The pocket he had provided was optimized for their wilderness surroundings, and would provide proper storage for live specimens.

"Sure. Thanks!" Sam pocketed the fishing rod and headed out to find some more sticks for a net, and hopefully no more wasps. He enlisted Diva to spot for him as he shook more twigs out of the trees, but instead of a hornets' nest, the surprise that drifted down out of one was a storage leaf. "Did you lose something?" he asked the frog.

She shrugged. "Every now and then, a quirk in the magic makes furniture stored like that get duplicated and randomly appear in faraway places. Count yourself lucky! What is it, anyway?"

He opened the leaf, and laughed. "Okay, that's bizarre, but kind of cool." What he was going to do with a lamp shaped like a giant soft-serve ice cream cone — chocolate and vanilla twist — he had no idea, but it lit up without needing to be plugged in, and the light it gave was brighter than the lantern in his tent. He collapsed it and added it to the stash in his pocket. "Thanks for the help, Diva — I've got enough sticks to make my own net, now."

"Anytime, ya know! I'm gonna see if I can catch a fish."

Sam stopped by his tent to drop off the lamp and noticed that his mailbox flag was up. He opened the box and found a brief letter from one of the organizations Nook had partnered with congratulating him on his move, along with a recipe card for a workbench of his own and a world-map poster he had no way to hang up. He shrugged, dropped both it and the ice-cream lamp, still in leaf form, in the corner of his tent, and transferred his radio onto the cardboard box. As he listened to a catchy tune called "K.K. Adventure," he studied the two recipe cards he'd been given, then pulled out his phone to see if it had directions on how to add new crafts to the app. It turned out to be simple; he held the umbrella card in front of the phone's camera and let it scan the symbols. To his surprise, as the symbols scrolled onto his phone screen, they vanished from the card, and when the recipe was complete, the cardstock itself disintegrated into vapor. The same happened with the workbench recipe. The workbench required iron and wood, rather than sticks or weeds, so he couldn't do much with it now, but Nook had said he was free to use the one in Residential Services whenever he liked.

He sat on the edge of the cot for a while, seeing what all the phone had to offer, and was surprised to see he was almost half way to the number of "Nook miles" he needed to pay off his moving debt. A few more of the service options looked pretty easy to accomplish, so he made sure he still had his tree branches and headed back outside to see about that net.

It was as easy to craft as the fishing rod had been, and looked about as sturdy. Sam kept the bug net at the ready as he checked out a few more trees, figuring he'd need more branches sooner rather than later, but he didn't find wasps or furniture, only… "What in the world is this thing?" Alive, apparently, since when he gingerly plucked it out of his net and tried to put it in his pocket, a small plastic cage popped out to receive it. He returned to Resident Services.

"Hey, Mr. Nook, I found something weird. I think it's a bug or something, but I've never seen anything like it." He held out the cage.

Nook angled it to get a better look through the plastic panels. "Oh, what a catch! I do believe this is a bagworm! Hmm… if this island can support bagworms… Why, who knows what other fantastic creatures we might find living here! Sam, I have an idea. An old friend of mine runs a museum, and I'd love to send it to him for a closer look. Would you be okay with that?"

"Sure, I love museums. I used to help out at the one in my hometown." "Help out" sounded more dignified than "mopped the floors," right?

"Thank you! I promise that I'll take extra-good care of your bagworm." Sam wasn't terribly concerned about the fate of the weird insect, or whatever it was, so he just nodded. "Oh! That reminds me! This is no way tied to your generous donation just now, but I have a useful app to show you." Sam took out his phone and watched a new icon load onto it. Nook explained that the app would cross-reference photos of any creatures he caught and let him know what they were.

"Neat," Sam said, pointing it through the cage at the bagworm. It didn't give a lot of detail, just some notes that they were common in this part of the world year-round.

"I do hope you'll continue to fill it up with your discoveries — and share them with me, too!"

"You got it," Sam said. "I'm going to see what else I can find."

The app said that the little yellow butterfly he caught next was, in fact, called a yellow butterfly. The dragonfly that zipped past evaded his attempts to catch it, however, darting across the river and hovering over the far bank as if laughing at him. He considered swimming across, but the current was pretty swift; besides, he only had a few changes of clothing, given the strict luggage limits. "Next time," he muttered under his breath. He dropped by Resident Services and showed the butterfly to Nook, who asked to send it along to the museum, too. Sam considered seeing how much Timmy would pay for it, first, but he'd seen plenty more of them outside, so he agreed. "You're making good use of that net. You'll probably need to craft another one soon, though. That reminds me… I've been meaning to share more DIY recipes with you. Mind turning on your phone?"

"Thanks," Sam said, scrolling through the new options. "An axe, huh? I don't know that clearcutting the island would be a great idea." Nook chuckled and explained that the axe was another tanuki innovation -- it would allow him to harvest a small amount of wood at a time from living trees, and even chip bits of rock or ore out of boulders. "Cool." He'd need to find a loose rock before he could make it, though he already had plenty of tree branches. Building a birdhouse sounded like a fun project, and if he could find some iron he could build his own workbench, too. He stepped outside and found Kid Cat staring up at the sky, a puzzled look on his face.

It was exactly the sort of made-you-look thing Alex might pull, and he resisted curiosity until he saw movement reflected in the cat's helmet. "What in the world?" A bright yellow balloon floated past, carrying a white box with a red ribbon bow.

"I have no idea," Kid Cat said. "I sure wish I could afford the slingshot Timmy's selling; I bet I could shoot that thing down easy, psst." Since Sam was in the same boat, financially, he gave a sympathetic shrug and turned away from the airborne mystery.

Another dragonfly evaded his attempt at capture — he thought it might be a different kind than the first, though they moved so fast it was hard to be sure. As he glared across the river at it, a hint of movement beneath the surface caught his eye, and he traded the net for his fishing rod. It took a few tries for it to notice his lure, but when it finally bit, he hauled out a large fish his app identified as a black bass, despite its green scales. His eyes widened as his pocket produced an aquarium large enough to contain the fish.  Definitely better than a backpack. He watched the bass flick its tail in the well-appointed tank. It looked a lot like the largemouth species back in Pelican Town, and he felt a pang of homesickness; he could almost smell his mother's fish casserole.

The last time she'd made it, she'd asked a certain farmer to catch the bass for her, and to join the family for dinner. Sam stared at his feet; she'd dropped hints through the whole meal that she suspected Ian and her older son were more than friends, but Sam had just laughed and steered the conversation to safer topics, because he knew how much his boyfriend hated being the subject of gossip…

He stuffed the fish tank back into his pocket and retreated to his tent as fast as he could without running, hoping that anyone who saw him would attribute the dampness on his cheeks to water splashed onto him by the fish.


	3. May 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam is especially grateful to be on Stardrop today, because back in Pelican Town, the Flower Dance is bound to be way more awkward than usual. He plants flower seeds to honor the occasion, and gets some unsolicited advice from Diva.

** "HELLO, EVERY—" **

Sam jolted awake as an amplified voice echoed across the island. He stumbled to the tent door and stuck his head out, half expecting that the grass had caught fire, or the Gotoro Empire had taken leave of its senses and invaded Crossing, or some other dire emergency.

Instead, the voice continued a moment later at a more reasonable volume, now recognizable as Tom Nook's. "Oh dear. So, so sorry about that! The volume was a little loud there…"

"No kidding," Sam muttered under his breath as Nook explained that he'd be doing an island-wide broadcast every morning to make sure everyone was in the loop on local happenings. The big news of the day was that the airport was now open for business. He retreated back into his tent and decided his clothes from yesterday would stand up to another day of wear. At least now he had the option to leave, if this deserted-island thing didn't work out —

He shook his head, annoyed with himself. He had left his slacker reputation behind in Stardew Valley, and everyone here was counting on him as their "representative." He would find a way to  make it work out. He checked that he still had his pocket and left the tent.

His mailbox was beeping at him, and he pulled out a package. He chewed his lip as he looked at the return address: his own, or rather, his former address. He opened the box and unfolded the letter, with his mother's graceful handwriting filling the page. He smiled crookedly as he read the letter; washing behind his ears would be easier with an actual bathtub, but yes, he was taking care of himself as best he could. The box contained some fruit she had asked Pierre to order for her, because she had heard they grew well in Crossing and hoped Sam could plant the seeds after he ate the fruit. He pulled a pear out of the box. At least she hadn't bought fruit from the local farm to mail to him.

He tucked them into his pocket and set off for the service tent; he was hungry and the pears smelled delicious, but they were expensive back home. He couldn't remember if he'd ever had a fresh one, and canned pears didn't have seeds, so he wanted to ask advice before chowing down. In the meantime, maybe there were donuts again.

On the way he ran into Diva. "Oh, hey, ya know! What brings you here?"

"On my way to breakfast," he said. "What are you up to?"

"Scouting locations," she said. "Word is that, except for the plaza, we're allowed to plop furniture down wherever and whenever we'd like!" She laid out her vision of a hangout spot, complete with vending machines, and he grinned at her enthusiasm.

"Yeah, that sounds great. Getting the machines here could be a challenge, though."

"Sure, but maybe I'll get lucky! I finally hit one of those balloons that keep floating by with my slingshot and got this rad new shirt, so who knows what else might be up there, ya know?"

"Huh, that's neat. I should get a slingshot, too." Even if the mystery balloons only carried clothes, he could use more of those. He pulled up a few weeds along the way, wondering how much the slingshot cost, and also collected a few sticks and a small rock he found beside one of the large boulders that dotted the landscape.

He saw Kid Cat on the far side of the plaza, but ducked into the Resident Services tent rather than respond to his wave of greeting. It really wasn't fair of him to keep comparing the cat to Alex, but those all-too-familiar jock mannerisms grated against nerves that were still raw.

The breakfast offerings were less sugary today, but granola bars were probably a better long-term choice, anyway. He chatted with Timmy as he ate and looked over the small collection of goods he had on offer. Setting up a lawn chair on the beach to watch the waves sounded nice, but he probably shouldn't spend what few Bells he had on non-essentials. Instead, he made a note of the prices of other things he might want to pick up, sold his weeds, and made an axe.

True to Nook's word, the simple stone-blade didn't make a noticeable dent in the tree he tried it against, but did send a few chunks of wood flying. He got similar results from a boulder, pocketing a few more rocks and a couple of lumps of iron ore before the axe stopped doing anything to it. The second boulder…

"Woah!" A bright gold coin popped out when he struck it, and by the time it ran dry like the first, he had quite a stack. A little dazed, he carried the coins back to the service tent, where Timmy confirmed that they were genuine Bells — more of the weird accidental-duplication magic that the people of Crossing took for granted. Sam bought the lawn chair, as well as a DIY recipe pack and a slingshot. He scrolled through the new projects on his phone; one was for a washtub, complete with scrubbing board for clothes, and that would definitely be handy. He thanked Timmy again and went back outside.

He tried the last of the boulders, but all that came out of it was stone, some clay, and a tiny black bug that he managed to snag with his net just before it could disappear under a tree root. A grasshopper met a similar fate, and he remembered at that point that he still had the bass he'd caught the day before in his pocket. As he headed for the plaza to show his findings to Nook, he heard a faint whistling noise overhead. A blue balloon was floating by and he dug around for his slingshot. After a couple of tries, he hit the balloon, sending the package tumbling to the ground. Inside he found a small scale like the one his mother used to weigh out baking ingredients. He shrugged and added it to the collection of randomness in his pocket; maybe some DIY recipes were finicky about exact amounts?

Nook was as happy to see the fish as he had been about the bugs the day before, and gave Sam some flower seeds as thanks. He managed not to grimace as he looked at the packets; it would have to be tulips. The pill bug he turned in next won him a recipe for a watering can, to help grow the flowers. That reminded him of the gift from his mother, and he asked about growing fruit on the island.

"Oho, of course that would be fine! Our local cherry trees may be abundant, but variety is the spice of life, yes, yes! As for how… I suggest you bury the whole fruit, to nourish the seeds as they grow. Ah, but you'll need a shovel for that, hm?" He pulled out his phone, but shook his head after a minute. "I could have sworn I had a recipe for one, but it appears not. Well, hold onto your fruits for now; they'll keep quite a long time in your pocket."

"Oh, and I have one more bug," Sam said, pulling it out.

Nook identified it as a "long locust," not a grasshopper, and appeared about to say more when his phone rang. He excused himself to answer it. "Blathers, is that you? Oho, what splendid timing!" Sam started to leave, but the tanuki motioned for him to stay, so he listened as Nook talked about the specimens he'd acquired so far. "I'm so sorry to keep you waiting," he said after hanging up. "That was my friend Blathers, the one who curates a museum. Believe it or not, he's going to come to our island to help us identify and preserve the local creatures!"

"Well, that's cool," Sam said. Nook then asked if he would mind helping to pick out a spot for the curator to set up a tent when he arrived and — with any luck — a museum to follow. "Sure." The marker kit Nook gave him was as simple to set up as his tent had been, giving him a projection of the space needed — lots — so Sam positioned it in a big open patch near the eastern branch of the river.

With that accomplished, he checked his phone. It was barely mid-morning; back home, he was usually still in bed at this hour. He shook his head and put the device away as a bright turquoise butterfly flitted past. He caught it, but as he stuffed the plastic cage into his pocket, his net disintegrated into dust.

He stared at the space it had occupied for a few seconds, then shook himself. The word "flimsy" had been right there in the recipe, but he had assumed it would revert back to the sticks it had been made of. Speaking of which… He wandered around for a bit, picking up tree branches that had fallen since yesterday, and since the fishing rod probably wouldn't last that long, either, he grabbed as many as he could find before returning to the tent.

"Hi, Mr. Nook, I caught another butterfly, but then my net fell apart," he said.

"Oho! Well, that's easy enough to remedy. No, you had best hold onto that," he added as Sam took out the butterfly cage. "Now that Blathers is on his way, it would be most efficient to give your finds to him directly. He can tell you far more about these creatures than I can, yes, yes!" Sam shrugged and went to the workbench, instead. He built another net, and then found he had more than enough branches left for the campfire recipe, which — unlike the tools he'd been making — was guaranteed to last. That sounded unlikely, but he crafted it anyway.

The result looked a bit like the gas-powered "logs" he'd seen advertised, only with no obvious fuel source. He tucked it into his pocket and headed back to his tent. There were enough pebbles mixed in with the golden sand to outline a proper fire circle on the beach, and he set up the campfire in it. "Oh, of course, more magic," he murmured when the fire sprang to life as soon as his hands were clear. He set up his new chair in front of it; this would make a pleasant place to hang out in the evening, but for now, he put the fire out and returned to exploring the island.

"Hey, Tommy, what's new?" he asked as the little tanuki passed him.

"I saw a message bottle wash up on the beach here. Of all the beaches in the world, right?"

"Message bottle?"

"There's mystery and adventure when someone sends a note by bottle out into the big, blue ocean," Tommy replied, a dreamy look in his eyes. He gave himself a little shake and smiled up at Sam. "I picked it up at first, but then I put it back down so someone else could enjoy opening it."

Sam could take a hint, and he gathered up seashells as he wandered up and down the beach. Finally, he spotted the bottle Tommy had described. The seal around the neck broke easily enough that he wondered how it had survived long enough to wash up on his shore, but the note and accompanying recipe card were dry. "Something to help me reflect... Hah, I see what you did there," he murmured with a grin as he turned over the card and found instructions for a mirror. He had the iron, but not enough wood.

He was just about to hit a tree with his axe when he looked up and saw a familiar lumpy shape in the branches overhead. He sprang back, but the wasps didn't appear to have noticed his presence. Remembering Diva's advice, he took out his net and braced himself as he gave the tree a sharp shake. "Hah! Take that, you little jerks," he said as he brought the net down; he only caught one, but the rest fled without attacking. He alternated between shaking trees and chopping them for wood until his arms were sore. He didn't find any surprise furniture this time, though a 100 Bell coin fell out of one tree, and when he just barely managed to capture a second wasp he decided it was time to call it quits for now.

"Hey, nice one!"

Sam jumped; he hadn't realized Diva was nearby. "Oh, hi. Thanks for the tip about catching these suckers. No stings today!"

"Good for you!" she said. "You've sure been runnin' around today," she said. "Didn't see you much yesterday."

That was because he'd spent the afternoon moping in his tent, but Diva didn't need to hear about his problems. "Yeah, I took some time to get settled in."

"I get it! I was crazy busy on my first day here. I was like an unpackin', stuff-movin' tornado, y'know? But wow, ya know! Just knowing I'm revving up a whole new life's got me grinning like a total fool!"

Her grin was infectious, too, and Sam was really glad he hadn't wound up as the only person on the island, even though that's what he had originally expected when he'd applied for the trip. "Yeah. For as little as I brought with me, it's amazing how much work it can be getting everything arranged just right." A whistling sound overhead caught his attention, and they both looked up. "There's another of those balloons. I found a kitchen scale a little while ago — you want first crack?" He hadn't seen a green one before.

"Nah, I left my slingshot in my tent," she said. "Go for it!"

His "prize" was a bigger disappointment than the scale; a headband with a big, floppy bow and one of those cushion-things to style long hair into a bun. He almost offered it to Diva, but though the markings on her head kind of looked like curls, the frog didn't have hair to style. He shoved it in his pocket; maybe Timmy would buy it.

"Oh, hey, there's Kid Cat!" Diva said as they reached the plaza, and there was no polite way to avoid talking to him.

"Yo, Diva! You seem hyped as always."

"You too, ya know!"

"This place gets me so pumped! The breeze, the crashing waves, nature all around us… It's all awesome!" Even Sam had to smile at the cat's glee. "I just wanna jog laps around the island and catch bugs and fish and lift and lift and lift, psst!" He flexed his arms.

Another balloon went floating by just then, this one blue, and Sam reached for his slingshot. He grinned as he shot it down on the first try.

"Hey, nice one!" Kid Cat said. "I wish I weren't so broke right now. I'll probably be selling more stuff to Timmy than I'll be buying, psst."

Both of them stuck close as he opened the package to find… "A climbing wall?"

"Sweet!" the cat said, pumping a fist in the air. "Wouldn't an outdoor gym be awesome? My tent's so small I can't even do jumping jacks without worrying about tearing the ceiling."

It wasn't something Sam had any interest in, but… "Where do you think would be a good place for it?" he asked. Kid Cat looked at him blankly. "A gym, I mean. It'd be a pretty tight fit to stuff this in my tent, after all."

"Awesome! What about right behind the plaza?"

Diva talked him into setting up a little farther out of the way than that, where the wall wouldn't block her view of the area. By the time he got back to Resident Services, the cat was already perched on top of the bright blue wall, paws raised in triumph.

As he let the tent flaps fall closed behind him, he turned toward the machine in the corner. Now that he had some Bells to rub together, he probably ought to see about the banking options. A notice popped up as he touched the screen that it had connected to his phone, and that he would receive miles for each day he checked in. It was the total that appeared as the day's allotment was added that really caught his attention, though — he had just crossed the 5,000-mile mark. "Huh."

He backed out of the menu and went over to Nook. "So, about my moving fees…"

The tanuki's eyes brightened, and he pulled out his phone and explained to Sam how to transfer the balance. "With that, your move-in fees have been paid in full. This is a happy day for us both, hm? Yes, yes… You're free and clear of debt, living on a thriving scenic island… What could be better?"

"Yup," Sam said, but Nook wasn't finished.

"Oh! That wasn't actually a rhetorical question. Let me be more specific. How  is that tent treating you?"

"Well, it could be better, I guess," Sam said, thinking of the way the morning sun made it feel like a sauna. "Not that I'm complaining!"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that! Ah, but no one ever said that developing an island paradise would be easy. But we don't do things because they are easy, hm? We do them because they are profitable!"

Sam blinked at the sudden shift in attitude, then again as the actual words penetrated. "Uh…"

"Well, if you are growing weary of life in a tent… Yes, yes… I suppose the time is right to discuss the possibility of building custom homes! Now, there are certain challenges to building fabulous homes in a remote location such as this. Challenges that do translate directly into costs, I'm afraid." He rubbed his paws together.

"Uh," Sam tried again. "I don't exactly have a lot of Bells."

"Ah, but with zero-interest financing and an extremely lax repayment plan, anything is possible!" Nook declared. "So, Sam… If you ever find yourself interested in a new home, do come see me."

"Yeah… I'll do that," Sam said. And  there was the catch he'd been half-expecting since he'd heard of this scheme. "I think the tent'll do for now, though."

"Yes, yes," Nook said absently. "Oh! One more thing to share… We have a miles-redemption service for the Nook Miles you've collected. When you access the Nook Stop, you'll be able to redeem your miles for lots of interesting things. You'll be sure to check it out sometime soon, hmm?"

"Sure," Sam said. He'd been planning to investigate the other features of the machine, anyway.

"Well then, I hope you continue to enjoy your getaway-package life!"

Sam borrowed Tom's workbench long enough to build one of his own, then returned to the Nook Stop and spent a few minutes looking at the things his community-service points could buy. There was also a whole section of Nook-branded shirts and other merchandise, if he got desperate for clothing, but not much else of interest at the moment. He looked at the regular shopping option next, but nothing in that brief catalog appealed to him, either, so he moved on to the banking option and opened a savings account. The interest rate wasn't great, but he deposited most of his current funds into it — if nothing else, it would reduce the temptation for impulse buys.

However, speaking of buying things… He disconnected from the terminal and went over to Timmy. "You said you had some flower seeds, right?" He was beyond grateful not to be in Pelican Town today, but it seemed like he ought to do something to honor tradition.

"Sure do! The boss gave you a sample of our tulips, and we also have windflowers and roses. Just red ones today, for all three of them, but I'll try to get some more variety in."

"Red roses, huh?" He'd seen pictures, but the varieties that grew in the valley were cooler colors, pinks and blues and purples. And he'd never heard of windflowers. He bought a few packets of both types and went outside to plant them.

"Oh, flowers, nice!" Diva said, wandering over as he tore open the first of the rose packets. "I was just thinking this place was a bit monochrome. Not that there's anything wrong with green, but some other colors would be nice."

"It seemed appropriate," Sam said. "Back home, they're holding the Flower Dance today." He answered her questions about the festival, trying to avoid thinking about how much more awkward than usual it was going to be this year. As he planted the rest of the roses, they chatted about other celebrations, both local and Ferngill. Crossing had one called "Bunny Day" that was a lot like the Egg Festival. Their "Nature Day" sounded similar to the Flower Dance, though the timing and the actual type of celebration were different. He was so caught up in the conversation that he didn't notice he'd pulled out the wrong seed packet until he tore it open and a tulip bulb tumbled out instead of the windflower seeds he was expecting.

His reaction must have shown, because Diva asked, "What's the matter? Don't you like tulips?"

"They… used to be my favorite," Sam said, staring down at the bulb in his hand. "My boyfriend grew them on his farm, and he'd bring me some a couple times a week. My  ex-boyfriend," he corrected. He shoved the bulb back into the open packet and started to return it to his pocket, but Diva laid a webbed hand on his arm.

"Look, I don't really know you well enough to give advice, but I've never let that stop me, ya know? It seems like a shame to give up something you like 'cause of a relationship that didn't work out."

"'Didn't work out…' Yeah, that's one way to put it," Sam muttered. He stared down at the packet, with its cheerful red illustration, for a little longer, then took a deep breath. "You're right, though." He shook the bulb back into his hand and planted it, followed by the other four Nook had given him.

"Good for you!" She gave him a sisterly pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks, Diva. So, where do you think I should plant these windflowers? And what are they, anyway?"

Sam spent the rest of the day puttering around the island, catching bugs and going fishing, though he decided to take a break from the latter when he reeled in a bizarre spiny thing his phone identified as a "zebra turkeyfish." Based on vague memories of high school biology class, he suspected its coloration and spines might mean it was venomous, and he wanted to talk with the museum guy before he risked pulling something even more dangerous out of the ocean. His pocket, he had learned, did not have infinite storage space, so he set the fish tank and bug cages in a tidy row behind his tent.

He scored a few more balloons, as well. One held Bells, which he added to his bank account — his mother would be proud. He sold the tatami bed from another to Timmy, since it was even less comfortable than his camping cot, and replaced his cardboard "table" with a desk of the sort he'd been hard-pressed to stay seated at in elementary school. He hoped something more his style would turn up soon, but in the meantime it made a handy spot to stash the mail he'd gotten.

The workbench he'd built was shaped like a tree trunk, and a bit on the large side, so he decided to set it up outside his tent. Tomorrow, he'd let the others know they were welcome to use it if they wanted. In the meantime, he tried out a few other recipes he'd collected enough materials for. The mirror was as tall as he was, and he carefully leaned it against the inside of his tent because he was worried it might fall over and break if left outside. His hair was just as much of a disaster as he'd feared, but he left the hat Kid Cat had given him on the floor of his tent as he went back outside; there was no one to impress here, after all.

The evening was cool enough that the warmth from the campfire was very welcome, but not so cold that he couldn't enjoy it. The only thing that would make this better, he thought as he listened to the crackle of the fire and the crash of the waves, would be a bag of marshmallows, and maybe some chocolate and graham crackers.

He was glad the others had picked his proposed name for the island, even if he hadn't been sure of it; Stardrop really was a little piece of paradise, wasn't it?


	4. May 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blathers arrives on Stardrop, and the tools Sam builds with the instructions the owl provides allow him to explore more of the island… where a chance discovery rekindles his love of pranks.

Island life seemed a bit less ideal when Sam awoke the next morning to the steady drumming of rain on the sides of his tent. It wasn't loud enough to drown out Nook's morning announcement, though, letting everyone know that Blathers had arrived. "Enjoy my day, sure," Sam muttered as he sat up on the edge of the cot and ran a hand through his hair. He'd been planning to try out the washtub he'd made yesterday, but the rain would make it impossible to dry everything out afterward. With a sigh, he pulled on the clothes he'd been wearing for the last two days; getting them wet wasn't going to make them any dirtier, and might even help. He picked up the leaf umbrella Diva had taught how him to make and ducked out of his tent.

He ran into Kid Cat — almost literally — as the cat emerged from Resident Services. "Good morning, psst! Gettin' an early start?" He raised a leaf umbrella nearly identical to Sam's.

"It didn't sound like the rain was going to let up, so I figured I might as well make the best of it," Sam said.

The cat grinned at him. "I never thought I'd meet someone even half as awesome as I am, but here you are, psst!" Sam stared at him blankly; was the cat making fun of him? "I am SOOO pumped we live on the same island. Our co-op muscle workouts are going to be legendary!"

"Uh, sure," Sam said, though "muscle workouts," co-op or otherwise, did not figure into his plans. Was this about the climbing wall, maybe? "I can't do much of anything without fuel, though," he ventured, nodding at the tent Kid Cat had just come out of, hoping his neighbor would get the hint.

"Right! Got to prime the pump in order to get pumped!" He gave Sam a cheery wave and jogged off across the plaza.

Sam shook his head; he would never understand jocks.

"Good morning!" Timmy said as he entered the tent. "I've got a couple of different flower seeds in today, if you'd like to take a look." He still had only red tulips, but Sam picked up a few packets of orange windflowers and white roses, as well as a hammock to add to his little stretch of beach when the weather improved. He also bought a recipe for a slingshot when Timmy warned him the one he'd purchased the day before would wear out eventually.

He browsed the Nook Stop as he munched on a cherry danish. He'd accumulated some more miles, but he decided to hold onto them for now. 

He checked out the shopping option next, and his finger hovered for a long moment over the touchscreen before he brought it down on the "buy" button. Sebastian probably wouldn't wear the shirt — it wasn't black — but even if he just stuffed it in the back of a drawer, the cheerful frog face would remind Seb that his best friend hadn't forgotten him just because he'd moved away.

Then he set out for the place where he'd set up the tent markers the day before, stopping along the way to scoop up a snail sliding across a rock. He wasn't sure if it was the kind of wildlife the museum guy would be interested in, but it couldn't hurt to check right?

The tent that had been set up was similar in size to the Resident Services one, but the rest of the area he had marked out the day before was roped off and stacked with boxes and equipment. Sam looked at the entrance flap for a while, realizing he had no idea of how you were supposed to "knock" on a tent door. "Hello?" he said.

"Come in," came the muffled reply, and he drew aside the flap.

Someone had certainly been busy; the tent had a wooden platform for a floor, and a desk and bookshelf had been set up, holding more of the same type of equipment he'd seen outside. The fact that all of this had been done since Sam had gone to sleep might be explained by the fact that the person standing by a slowly filling fish tank was an owl, no doubt used to working nights. "Hoo! A pleasure to meet you! My name is Blathers!"

"I'm Sam."

"Aha!" Blathers exclaimed before Sam could say anything else. "Could it be that you are the personage who chose the location for this tent? A splendid job indeed! Thanks to you, I was able to alight on this island with nary a ruffled feather." After a minute or so, Sam gave up on trying to get a word in edgewise and settled in to listen to the owl, who was not only planning to do research on the local wildlife but also hoped to open a proper museum once there were sufficient specimens to satisfy whoever it was that licensed that sort of thing in Crossing — Blathers seemed to assume he would already know, so he just nodded. By the time the owl wound down, Sam was in possession of two new recipes, for a shovel that would allow him to excavate fossil deposits without damaging them and a pole that would supposedly help him vault safely across rivers in order to reach the area where Blathers thought those fossils would be found.

Sam waited a few seconds to see if there was still more, then said, "Well, I think I've got something to donate, but I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for," he said, and took the snail out of his pocket.

Blathers lifted the cage to eye level and peered inside, then flinched and nearly dropped it. "Eek! A snail! The horror! The repugnance!" As Sam stared at him, bemused, the owl shuddered and murmured under his breath, "Good heavens, I must maintain my composure." He cleared his throat. "I beg your pardon. Bugs… I do detest them. Still, there's much I can tell you about the creature you apprehended… if you insist, that is," he added almost too low to hear.

"Er, I don't want to put you to any trouble, but I am curious," Sam said.

"Ah, I see," Blathers said. "In that case… Snails are not insects, I'll admit. But they're just as revolting to me." He went on to talk about how the creatures grew their shells, and shuddered at the mention of the mucous trails they used to get around. He concluded by assuring Sam that the "wretched thing" would receive the best of care from him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bug — er, gross you out," Sam said. "Mr. Nook said you were interested in these sorts of creatures, though."

The owl shuddered again, then sighed. "'Tis I who ought to apologize. My personal horror of insects and the like does not diminish their vital role in the ecosystem, nor the importance of entomology to the greater field of biology. In truth, part of why I study them is in hopes of overcoming my revulsion, though this has not, as yet, been successful. Fish and other aquatic creatures, on the contrary — those, I could gladly observe for days on end, and I must admit I can get quite long-winded when fossils are the topic of discussion."

Could get long-winded? Sam thought, but didn't say. "Well, I caught a really weird-looking fish yesterday, but I don't have it with me right now. And, uh, I have a few more bugs, too." If snails fell into that category for the purposes of the museum, then surely the spider he'd found in a tree would, as well.

The owl gave a little shiver, but said only, "Anything that brings us closer to our goal of opening the museum is a welcome donation."

"Awesome. I'm going to go try out these recipes and see what else I can find for you," Sam said, and left as the owl was gingerly setting the snail cage on the shelves behind him. It was still raining, so he took his umbrella back out.

"'Sup, ya know!" He jumped; how a bright purple frog could be that stealthy was nearly as mysterious as the source of the balloon drifting slowly overhead. "Where you headed? Whoa! Sweet umbrella! Wait, did you make that with the DIY recipe I gave you? Great job! Way to knock it out of the park!"

He grinned. "Thanks. It's come in handy. You didn't make one for yourself, though?"

"Nah, a little water doesn't bother me. Name ONE frog better at puddle splashin' than me. Go on. I'll wait."

Since she was the only frog Sam knew, there wasn't much he could say to that except, "You're the champion, Diva."

"You better believe it! Seriously, though, do you like the umbrella? I mean, you're using it, so I guess so. That, or you're just tryin' to keep dry, ya know! That's an issue for you non-amphibious types, right?"

"It's great," he assured her. "Really fits the 'island getaway' theme." He eyed the balloon, which was getting farther away. "I'm going to risk the wet, though, 'cause I don't think I can keep hold of it and my slingshot at the same time." He wasn't sure if it was the rain or just bad luck, but it took him three tries to hit the blue balloon. What he found in the package, though, made it worth the effort. "Sweet!" Then he had to laugh at himself, because in his wildest dreams he would not have imagined himself ever getting this excited over a clothes-drying rack. "Now I can do my laundry today even if it doesn't stop raining."

"Nice! Hey, are you the one who built that washtub down by the river? You mind if I use it, too?"

"Be my guest. I figure it's a public service sort of thing. Oh, and I built a DIY workbench. It's over by my tent, but anyone's welcome to use it if you're in the area and don't want to go all the way back to Resident Services."

She grinned at him. "Wow, Nook sure knew what he was doing, choosing you as our Resident Representative. I would've just dunked my clothes in the river and hoped for the best, but you really thought about what we'd need."

"Aw, geez." Sam rubbed the back of his neck as his cheeks heated. "I mean, I was mostly thinking about what I'd need, and then I figured other folks might find it useful, too."

"I'm pretty sure that's what the job is, ya know?"

Put like that, the fancy title sounded less intimidating. As Diva headed off in search of breakfast, Sam shielded his phone under the umbrella and looked at the recipes Blathers had sent him. He needed wood of various types, and he'd used up most of yesterday's collection on his building spree. He took out his axe and gave the nearest tree a whack.

He realized his mistake as a too-familiar shape dropped out of the branches. He flailed at the wasps with the axe, but they dodged his wild swings easily, and by the time they flew off his whole face felt swollen. He leaned back against the trunk as his head spun; there hadn't been any wasps in this tree yesterday, had there? If he weren't in so much pain, he might have been impressed by their nest-building speed.

"Ouch," an unwelcome voice came from right in front of him. Sam cracked an eye open to see Kid Cat staring up at him. "Those wasps are some seriously buff opponents, psst. You gotta train a lot harder if you're going to tangle with them." The cat screwed up his face. "I wish I had some medicine to give you, but I didn't wanna mess up my aerodynamics, so I didn't bring any when I moved here… Oh! But I can show you how to MAKE medicine. It's easy to do, and this island's got everything you need." He pulled a recipe card out of his pocket and scribbled something on it, then handed it to Sam. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Sam said, though the cat was already jogging away. He loaded the card into his phone and checked the ingredients — so that was why Timmy was so eager to buy wasp nests and weeds from him. He pushed himself away from the tree and picked up the fallen nest. Finding the weeds took longer, since he'd cleared them out of this part of the island the day before, but he didn't need very many. The homemade recipe worked as well as the packet he'd bought from Timmy, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the swelling recede. Kid Cat was okay, even if the way he talked about sports and fitness constantly was annoying.

The rain had finally stopped when he returned to his original task — this time checking each tree, net in hand, before pulling out his axe — and by the time the axe broke, he had enough wood to make the shovel and pole.

He decided to try out the shovel first, and headed for the weird glowing spot in the ground that he'd noticed by the plaza. As he thrust the wooden blade into the ground, a peculiar sound filled the air, something that combined ringing and buzzing in a way that set his teeth on edge. He levered up the dirt and found a small bag sitting in a hole that was almost as bright as the sun peeking through the clouds overhead. He gingerly picked up the bag, feeling small disks shift inside — about the same size as Bells. But the noise from the hole had intensified, and he recalled all the stories he had heard as a kid about people digging up cursed books and artifacts in the valley. This felt different, somehow, than the coins falling from trees or popping out of rocks, and he carefully returned the bag to the hole before smoothing the soil over it.

The light faded as he did so, and as soon as the hole was filled in, a pair of leaves forced their way through the dirt. "Huh." Perhaps the bag had held some sort of peculiar seeds, rather than coins? The soil here was even more fertile than in Stardew Valley, given how fast the flowers he had planted yesterday were sprouting. He would just have to wait to see what sort of plant the leaves grew into. He tucked the shovel back into his pocket and headed for the river.

He was skeptical about usefulness of the vaulting pole, given how wide the river was, but he could swim, so the worst that would happen would be getting soaked again. Like so many of his other tools, however, the pole was more than it appeared, easily lifting him over the rushing current and dropping him on the far bank. "I am never going to get used to this place," Sam murmured as he put the pole away, but it wasn't a complaint.

Blathers had described what sort of signs indicated that there might be fossils beneath the soil, and the owl had been right; the shovel turned up a lump of dirt and rock that, even compressed as it was, clearly had some sort of bone-like structures inside. He put it away and kept hunting, finding several more. The far side of the river covered a lot more space, rising up in the north into sheer cliffs; the breeze carried the familiar scent of roses down to him, though the blooms he could see were bright yellow, red, and white — nothing like the fairy roses that grew in the valley. Hoping for a closer look, he pulled out his vaulting pole, but apparently it only worked across, not up.

Sam walked along the beach for a while, hoping to spot someplace more climbable, but the cliffs continued all the way to the north edge of the island. He picked his way across the rain-slicked rocks and spotted a little expanse of sandy beach beyond the cliffs, but there was no safe way to get there from this direction.

As he headed back toward the river, he spotted a green balloon drifting on the wind and jogged forward to shoot it down before it blew out to sea. The package it dropped held a larger-than-life anatomical model of a human, and he wondered yet again what was going through the mind of whoever was sending these "presents" — the neatly wrapped packages felt a lot more deliberate than the random storage leaves and Bells that kept popped up.

He tried to put the leaf away, but his pocket was already full. He started to set it down — Timmy didn't offer much for what he called "mass-produced" goods, so it wouldn't be a big loss if it blew away before he came back for it — but a shallow niche in the cliff wall caught his eye.

A few minutes later, he vaulted back across the river, still chuckling under his breath. The next person to go wandering along the western beach was going to get a surprise.

When he delivered the first of the fossil deposits to Blathers, the owl informed him with delight that the first fossil was an Australopithecus skull. "They're thought to be one of the links between humans and apes, and emerged four million years ago. They lived long ago, even before the ancestors of the modern humans, so there are profound differences... Even so, it seems to me that you can see the beginnings of greatness here!" How Blathers could make out any details in the space-compressed lump he as now placing on a shelf was beyond Sam, but he supposed that must be part of his job training. "Quite an excellent start to our collection. Do you have anything else you would like to assess?"

Sam turned in the other three fossils he had found and listened to the owl's descriptions of the bones they contained. "I'm going to grab those other specimens I mentioned," he said when Blathers ran out of steam at last. He stopped for lunch along the way, eating outside while keeping a wary eye on the thickening clouds overhead.

The spiny fish was, indeed poisonous, though not enough so to be dangerous to Sam or the other villagers, and he was amused to learn that the owl was just as appalled by pretty butterflies as spiders and wasps. "Only two more to go!" the owl declared as he gingerly slid the cage containing the latter onto a shelf. "Er… maybe some more fish, to balance things out?"

"Sure. Now that I know the zebra turkeyfish are safe to handle if I'm careful, I think I'll try some more ocean fishing." There'd been an old dock on the eastern side of the beach…

Sam stop short by the river mouth, because there was a body on the sand. After one horrified moment, he heard a snore; not a dead body, at least, but who was this? He dropped to one knee beside the bird, who was dressed like a sailor. "Hey, are you all right?"

"B'GUH! Who's at the helm?" came the muttered response. "Just… gimme five more minutes…" It took a few more tries, but the seagull finally let out a groan and staggered upright. "Blerrgh… D-do you have my picked-herring pizza? I already tipped online, so…" The bird's eyes focused on Sam. "Wait — I don't see a pizza! Where am I? Who are you? Who am I?!" Just as Sam was beginning to get truly worried — the closest they had to a hospital here was a packet of wasp-sting medicine — the gull gave a shake. "Oh, hang on, I know that one." He introduced himself as Gulliver, and explained that he'd fallen asleep while on watch duty and fallen overboard. From his relaxed attitude, Sam guessed that this wasn't the first time he'd found himself in this situation. In fact, Gulliver didn't seem worried at all until he discovered that his communicator — which looked like a cheap knock-off of a NookPhone — had broken open at some point during his mishap, and was now missing some of its circuits.

"Sure, I'll help you look," Sam said, though he doubted cramming a bunch of sandy, waterlogged computer chips back into the cracked phone case was going to do a lot of good, even assuming they had washed up along with their owner instead of sinking to the bottom of the ocean. He sifted through the sand with his shovel, and to his surprise, he found a few of them; after cramming them back into the case, Gulliver was able to get a signal out of his device. It must be a lot sturdier than it looked, though he supposed it would have to be, to stand up to the abuse the gull was putting it through. "Glad I could help," he said, and made his escape before the bird could lob any more terrible puns at him.

There was another message in a bottle not far from where he'd found the washed-up sailor, but the "recipe" inside was just a way to organize cardboard boxes to take up less space. He had better luck with his fishing, and brought Blathers back a sea bass and a horse mackerel. "My feathers, I am at a loss for words!" Blathers exclaimed, then proceeded to prove himself wrong, at great length. "I am humbled by the spirit of Stardrop," he concluded. "Now we can submit our application to build a proper museum!"

Sam backed out of the tent as the owl began frantically digging through files, looking for the proper paperwork, and found that it was raining again. He sighed and headed back to his tent. As he trudged through the sodden grass, he shot down another balloon, carrying a blue wool sweater that would be very welcome against the chilly downpour. He ducked through the flap of his tent and frowned at the muddy tracks he was leaving on the nylon. A wooden floor like Blathers had would be easier to clean… but building such a platform was way beyond his wood-working skills, and he didn't have a DIY recipe for "tent flooring." Maybe it was time to talk to Tom Nook and find out the details of home ownership in Crossing. He changed into the warm, dry sweater and darted back through the rain.

"Oho, Sam!" The tanuki smiled widely as Sam approached. "Have you made a decision about home ownership? Ready to move forward into comfort and luxury?"

For the price being offered, Sam suspected "luxury" was only in comparison to a tent, but that was still something. "I'm thinking about it, but I'm not sure. How does the loan you mentioned work, exactly?" Nook explained, and Sam found himself nodding. Unlike mortgages in Ferngill, there wasn't a fixed repayment plan. He could make small installments, if he wanted, or put his Bells into savings until he had enough to pay it all in one go. He could even leave it unpaid indefinitely; the only requirement was that he settle his existing loan before he could arrange for any further home improvements. Maybe there was a catch he wasn't seeing, but… "Yeah, let's do it," he said.

Nook beamed at him. "Thank you for your business! I'll get construction started right away." He ran through a few more options with Sam, who, in a moment of nostalgia he hoped he wouldn't regret, selected a purple roof like his parents' house. There were some added benefits in the mileage program, too, and he read through the new information. "Yes, yes, unlike the longer-term mileage goals, these are updated regularly in accordance with our assessment of the island's most pressing needs," Nook explained. "And there will be some additional mileage redemption options, as well. That's all from me! Your wonderful new home should be ready tomorrow. Quite exciting, yes?"

"Tomorrow? Really?" That was even faster than Sebastian's mother worked, and he recalled a certain someone complaining about the racket through the night. It was too bad it was raining, meaning the hammock wasn't an option. Maybe Diva wouldn't mind if he crashed with her tonight?

As it turned out, he didn't need to ask, because the rain slowed to a drizzle not long after he left Resident Services, then stopped entirely. He caught a weather forecast on his radio that promised clear skies and reasonably warm temperatures through the night, so he decided to take the risk and set up his hammock on the beach. He spent the rest of the day doing laundry and fishing; Blathers had said he wouldn't be able to take in new donations until the museum opened in a couple of days, but the tanks would support their occupants for that long, and he was sure the owl would be glad to have even more exhibits.

When night fell, Sam made sure his now-dry clothes were packed back in his duffel bag, then stretched out in his hammock and watched the stars until his eyelids grew heavy.


	5. May 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new day brings with it a new house, a new goal, and perhaps a new neighbor?

The hammock was worse than tent life for sleeping in, Sam thought, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight. He hoped that Nook was serious about the house being finished today, and that he could find something to turn into curtains to cover any windows. In the meantime, he could tell he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep, so he groaned, stretched, and managed to exit the hammock without faceplanting into the beach. As he brushed sand from the knees of his jeans — why had he thought packing white denim was a good idea? — he turned to see how far construction had gotten.

For a moment, all he could do was stare. A tidy little house now stood where his tent had been, and as far as he could tell from here, it was complete. When Nook had told him construction would be finished today, he hadn't realized he'd meant by dawn! As he started toward it, he heard the faint feedback of the plaza's loudspeaker firing up. He half-listened to the announcements as he walked around the house — his house. How did he own a house? It had white wooden siding with brown trim, and bushes growing neatly in a shallow planter-box on either side. Light spilled out through the windows, but the glass was tinted or frosted or whatever the technical term was, preventing him from making out any details. His mailbox was beeping at him, too, but he ignored it in favor of the front door, painted a bright red that looked a little odd with the purple roof he'd asked for. He took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob, which turned easily.

The inside was… well, he'd known that Nook's description of "luxury" was probably overselling it; his bedroom back home was bigger than the space that greeted him now. It was still a substantial upgrade, as shown by the compact knot of furniture in the middle of the room, laid out exactly as it had been in his tent. He spent a few minutes dragging furniture around, and with his few belongings spread out, the room felt strangely empty. It soon became even more so, as he discovered the hatch to the storage he'd been promised, which functioned much the same as his pocket, only much more spacious. He changed clothes, hanging up the sweater on the wall rather than storing it away; it still smelled faintly of the campfire he'd had going yesterday evening, and he should probably let it air out, since he vaguely remembered his mother saying that wool couldn't be washed the same way as most clothes. He scrolled through his DIY recipes, trying to decide if there was anything else he could add right now, but opted instead to go see what his mail held.

The first letter was from some outfit called the Happy Home Academy, with a house-warming gift of a recipe for a wooden end table. He quickly scanned it into his phone; now he could replace the school desk he'd been using. The other letter was from Gulliver, thanking him for the help yesterday. The bird had enclosed a souvenir whose label proclaimed it to be a genuine replica of the South Pole. Sam shrugged and tucked it into his pocket; it would make a nice decoration somewhere, he supposed, though he wasn't sure "south pole" really fit the deserted-island theme. The T-shirt he had ordered for Sebastian had arrived, as well, and he put it in his pocket to mail later.

His stomach rumbled, and he headed for the plaza to see if they'd put out the breakfast spread yet. Tommy waved to him as he approached. "Congratulations on your new home!" the little tanuki said.

"Thanks," Sam replied. "It's still a little hard to believe. And it's kind of funny how empty it is, when the same furniture in my tent made it feel cramped."

Tommy brightened and launched into a sales pitch for the Nook Shopping catalog. Sam hadn't been too impressed with the offerings so far, but he didn't have a lot of DIY options, either. "I'll be sure to check it out," he said, and headed into the big green tent. They'd put out donuts again, Sam noted happily, but he'd also walked in on a conversation, so he hesitated by the door instead of making a beeline for the sugary pastries.

"So you see, since the number of homeowners is increasing, I agree that we need to build a shop," Nook was saying to Timmy. "However, when it comes to building supplies, our customers' homes should take priority. I have every confidence that you'll find a way to handle this little puzzle. The two of you have been training under me for how many years now, hm? This should be a piece of cake!"

Sam's stomach chose that moment to give another loud growl, and Timmy and Nook both turned to look at him. "Well, hello there, Sam!" Nook said. "Are you happy with your home? Is it meeting your expectations?"

"It's great," Sam said, reaching for a jelly donut. "I'm amazed it's already done — I figured I wouldn't be able to move in until sometime this evening." Nook beamed at him and proceeded to expound on the benefits of home ownership. "Wait, the Happy Home Academy?" Sam interrupted. "I got a letter from them. What's the deal with that, anyway?" It sounded a little creepy to Sam — some random strangers were going to be judging his interior decorating skills? — but Nook swore they wouldn't be intrusive about it, so he shrugged and let the matter drop, and the tanuki moved on to the subject of his payments. "I don't suppose I can pay this one off in miles, too?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, that was a special offer that only applied to your initial getaway-package fees."

"Yeah, I figured. So do I just pay you whenever?"

Nook explained that the Nook Stop banking app would now have an option for him to make payments on his loan — as much or as little as he wished, whenever he liked. "I think that's everything I need to tell you about homes today. But I do have a nice surprise for you!" There was a ticket waiting for Sam at the airport that would allow him to travel to yet another deserted island for a day trip. "Now then, go enjoy life in your freshly built home! Indeed!"

"Thanks again," Sam said around the last mouthful of donut. He swallowed and turned to Timmy. "So, what's new?"

"Well, I have something I would like to chat about… if you have a moment, that is. It is a bit of a proposal, so if now's not a good time, I understand completely. No pressure!"

Sam reached over and snagged a second donut. "Go for it."

"Very good! I'll get right to the point. I'm hoping that you might be interested in collaborating on a new venture — building a new shop! After all, our little island community is growing, and our needs are growing, too." Timmy's explanation made sense of the conversation Sam had walked in on — apparently Sam wasn't the only one who had opted out of tent life, and building materials were in short supply. Would Sam be willing to donate the wood and metal they needed? Timmy could offer rewards for donations, and once the shop was open, he and Tommy would be able to carry a lot more stock.

"Sure, I can help out. It might take a while, though."

"Oh, I understand! After all, you have a whole new house to fill, and you'll need supplies for your DIY projects. But if you do find yourself with materials left over…"

"I'll be sure to bring them to you," Sam said.

"Thank you so much! And in the meantime, here's what we have to sell today."

Sam picked up some more flower seeds and went to check out the new features on the Nook Stop terminal. The payments through his bank account were simple enough, so he backed out and looked at the miles redemption list. There were several additional options, and he had collected enough miles to pick up a few things. The pocket organization guide was definitely worth the cost; he had been stuffing things into his pocket mostly at random, and it turned out if he was more precise about it, he could fit considerably more into the space. A tool ring functioned as an add-on to the pocket, allowing him to swap a limited number of items in and out of it without having to dig through the rest of its contents. There were recipes for more durable tools, as well, and that was going to be a lifesaver (possibly literally, when it came to bug nets and wasps). He looked over the instructions; he was going to need a lot more iron, especially since these, too, would eventually break down, just not as fast as the plain wooden ones. The plane tickets Nook had talked about were available for purchase, as well, but he decided to check out the free one to see if it was worth that many miles. His final purchase was a set of hairstyling tips, and to his delight it included a way to use the magic that lingered in mirrors after they were crafted to hold a variety of styles in place.

Remembering Tommy's advice, he popped into the shopping app. There was still no furniture that looked useful, but he ordered a couple of pairs of denim shorts. The music offering of the day was one he'd heard on the radio a couple of times: "Stale Cupcakes," a melancholy song about realizing something you'd once treasured was no longer worth keeping. He hesitated over the price, but only for a few seconds. It was the sort of song he could only dream of writing someday, one that told the listener, "I've been there too, and you'll get through this," without being trite about it.

On his way out of the tent, he peeked into the recycling box and found a bit of scrap that looked a lot like the phone chips he'd helped Gulliver find yesterday. Since the bird was no longer wandering the beach, he assumed the device had functioned well enough without this one for his crew to find him. Sam closed the box without taking the corroded bit of circuitry.

Outside, the sun was still shining brightly, and he decided there was no time like the present to get started on collecting materials. He needed some wood for that end table, anyway, and he could set aside any softwood and hardwood for Timmy's project. As he neared the eastern branch of the river, he saw that Nook (or whoever did the actual construction) had been really busy, because Kid Cat's tent was gone. He would have guessed whose house it was even if it hadn't been in the same spot; the red siding and white roof matched the cat's style.

Blathers' tent was surrounded by a tall green construction fence, and Sam could hear faint pounding noises from within the area. The fencing must have some sort of noise-absorbing properties, and perhaps that explained why he hadn't been woken up by his own house's assembly. Curious, he walked north and found that Diva, too, had joined the ranks of homeowners. Her place suited her, grey adobe and a purple roof, the walls softly rounded instead of meeting at hard angles like his and Kid Cat's houses. A little sign hung on the front door indicated she was still asleep, though, so he made a mental note come back later.

He rounded up enough wood to build a pair of end tables, and was amused to find that the books pictured in the recipe's image were included, though they were only decorative blocks of wood. He took his creations inside and set up one on either side of his bed, stuffing the desk and cardboard box he'd been using into storage. The solid furnishings looked odd beside the camping cot, or rather, the cot looked out of place in a real house. It would have to do for now, however, because the only recipe he had for any kind of bed was a glorified hay bale that looked less comfortable than the bare floorboards. He spent a few minutes in front of the mirror he had made, fixing his hair into proper spikes. Feeling more like himself than he had in ages, he went outside to see if Diva was up yet.

Her light was on, so he tapped on the door. The frog opened the it, looking bleary. "Mornin', sunbeam. You here to make sure I start my day off right, ya know?"

"Something like that," he said. "Nice place!"

"Oh, hey! Big news!" she said. "I have officially moved on from tent life. I got a house, ya know!"

"Me too," Sam said. "No more nylon walls."

"I mean, tents are cool and all," she said, "but I can fit way more stuff in a house. Plus now it finally feels like I actually live here, instead of just roughing it."

"Same," Sam said. He looked around. Her house was sparsely furnished, with just a table, workbench, and sleeping bag; she must have put everything else in storage. "Of course, now I've got a list a mile long of things I'd like to put in my house.

"I hear ya," she said, then squinted at him. "Oh, hey, you did something different with your hair, didn't you? It's always neat to see what you mammals do with your fur. Sometimes I wish I had that sort of option."

"You've got a style all your own, Diva." She beamed at him, then yawned. "I'll get out of your h— your way now," he said, and headed for the airport.

The dodo behind the counter at the airport looked up as he approached. Until now, they'd only nodded at each other from a distance when Sam came in to use the restroom. "Hey hey hey! Welcome to your one and only gateway to the skies, the Stardrop Airport! Nice to meetcha — I'm Orville, ground crew for Dodo Airlines. Dodo Airlines: the crew may be flightless… but that doesn't mean you have to be!"

Sam grinned at the joke. "Hi. I'm Sam."

"Oh, it's you! Good timing! I just got a Nook Mile Ticket from Tom Nook with 'Sam' written on it, which makes it yours. So if you want to use this ticket, you just gotta say the magic words 'I wanna fly!' Got it?"

"Maybe later. He also mentioned you have a mail service?"

"That we do! Sometimes a letter's just better you know? If you want to send someone a note, take a gander to your right. We got all kinds of cards at the card stand!" He waved a wing at the spinner beside the desk.

"I actually need to send a package — can I do that here?" He took the frog shirt out of his pocket. "It needs to go to Ferngill."

"International shipment, huh? That makes things a little more complicated — and more expensive — but we can do it! Go ahead and pick a card and write your letter; we'll attach the item to it. That only works in Crossing, though. When it reaches the border the mail service will repack it into a standard box and send it and your note on to its final destination. It's 500 Bells for international, rather than the 200 for local mail. Still want to do it?"

That was nearly as much as the shirt had cost, but imagining the look on Sebastian's face when he opened it made it worth the price. "Sure." He inspected the card stand. To his disappointment, there weren't any frog-themed ones, and he settled for one with goldfish in a pond.

"Hey Seb," he wrote. "How's it going in Pelican Town? The island I moved to is really great. We named it Stardrop. Guess what? One of my neighbors is a frog! Anyway, I saw this in the gift shop & thought of you. Your pal, Sam." He added the t-shirt to the card's single storage slot and gave it and the address to Orville, along with the postage cost.

"Very good! I'll make sure it goes out with tonight's mail. Now, you wanna use that ticket?"

"How does it work, anyway? Mr. Nook didn't really give many details."

The dodo explained that the pilot, his brother Wilbur, would fly Sam to a randomly chosen island from among those deemed too small for permanent settlement. Sam could bring back anything he found there, but by the same token anything he left behind would be lost for good, because they didn't make return flights. "Sure, sounds interesting. Let's fly!"

"All right! Let's get you airborne." The dodo turned to his computer and began typing something. "Dodo One, this is Dodo Tower," he said into the microphone on his headset. "Wilbur, you copy? Got a walker who needs wings, over." He could hear a faint response from the headphones, but couldn't make out words. Orville turned back to him. "OK — have a good flight, friend! And when you need to travel, just think, 'What would dodos do?'" He opened the gate, and Sam headed down the brief walkway to the seaplane floating at the end of the dock.

Wilbur, it turned out, spoke primarily in the sort of faux-military jargon that made Sam's father snort at moments in movies that the filmmakers probably hadn't intended to be funny. It was a struggle to keep a straight face, so instead of trying to make conversation, Sam watched out the window as an astonishing variety of islands passed beneath the plane. Some were clearly occupied, with whole networks of streets and buildings visible even from this altitude, while others looked even more pristine than Stardrop. Dotted throughout the ocean around them were smaller islands, presumably the sort they were heading to now.

Sam straightened in his seat as the plane began to descend. The tiny island below was covered with evergreen trees like those he'd seen high on the cliffs back on Stardrop, but what really caught his eye was the tiny pinprick of a campfire burning beside a short river. When they landed, Wilbur ran through the same sort of explanation Orville had given him, at greater length and with more bad mil-speak. "Great, got the picture," Sam said, suppressing a chuckle, and headed down the dock to the island. There was a DIY workbench already there, so he wouldn't need to buy tools from Wilbur if he broke one of his.

He walked along the beach first. The whole island could fit neatly in the fork of the river back on Stardrop, so it didn't take long. There were palm trees growing in the sand, and he collected as many coconuts as he could shake loose. He wasn't sure if they'd grow on the beach in front of his house, but if not, he could eat them. There was a message in a bottle washed up on the western shore, and he opened it to find directions to make a backpack out of woven grass and weeds. He scanned it in; that might be a better way to carry his pocket than his pants, since he'd be less likely to wash it by accident. Then he pulled out his axe and started chopping wood.

He discovered very quickly that the trees might be different, but some things were still the same. He thanked Yoba for his new tool ring as he yanked out his net just in time to fend off the swarm of wasps heading for him. "Shake, then chop," he muttered as he collected the fallen wasp nest. At least if he'd gotten stung, there were plenty of weeds here for him to make his own medicine. There were a few boulders scattered around, as well, and he picked up enough iron to upgrade his current tools.

"Hmm, I'll have to remember not to use that back on Stardrop," Sam murmured, staring at the sheared-off tree stump in front of him; the metal-bladed axe didn't stop at extracting a little bit of wood. He took another look at his recipes and made a stone axe, as well, which functioned in the same non-destructive manner as his original one, but felt sturdier in his hand.

When he had finished exploring everything the near bank of the river, he vaulted across to the area where the campfire was. A bird looked up from what looked like a nature guide as he landed on the far side of the river. She had black and white feathers, except for a cap of bright red on the top of her head. "Well, hello there! My name's Gladys." She set the book aside and stood up, and Sam was startled to realize she was taller as he was. It wasn't as though his height was all that impressive, for a human, but the Crossing citizens he had met up to now had all been on the short side.

"I'm Sam," he said. "It's nice to meet you. I didn't think anyone lived on these little islands."

The bird — ostrich, maybe? — laughed. "I'm only here for the day — the same as you, I expect. My plane had other passengers to drop elsewhere, though, so I'm on my own until they return later to take me home. Where are you from, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I'm originally from Ferngill," he said, "but I signed up for a getaway package through Nook Inc. a little while ago, so now I live here in Crossing, on an island called Stardrop."

"Wow!" she said. "You're definitely more well-traveled than me! I'm trying to fix that by touring new places like this island. What brings you all the way out here?"

"Oh, I wouldn't really call myself well traveled," Sam said. "I spent most of my life in the same tiny town, and… well, I decided I need a change. See new places, meet new people…" Stop running into his ex and his new husband every time he needed something from the store… He tried to shove the thought aside. "That sort of thing."

"Mom always says there's magic in chance encounters, so I'm glad we ran into each other like this." Her expression turned thoughtful. "It must be true what they say, about how travel broadens your horizons. This change of scenery is giving me a new perspective on life back home. I like it well enough, but… maybe I need something new, too — more new than just a day trip to this little island, pretty as it is."

"Well, if you want to come to Stardrop, I'd be happy to put in a good word for you," Sam said, before it occurred to him that being "resident representative" might not give him the standing to make invitations like that.

"Oh, wow, that's such a great idea," Gladys said before he could think of a way to clarify what he'd meant. "Thank you for encouraging me! When I ran into you I never expected to be invited to live on your island. Unless you were just teasing me…" She drew in on herself a little, as if that were a reaction she'd come to expect. "Do you really mean it, stretch?"

"Well, of course I meant it," Sam said. "Though the person you'd actually need to talk to, to make sure it's okay, is Tom Nook."

"I'd better do that before I forget," Gladys said. "Oh, this is all so exciting! I can't wait to start packing up for my big move after this tour."

"If you really do decide to come, I'll look forward to seeing you," Sam said, wondering what he'd gotten himself into. "I'd better get moving, though. I promised one of the people back on Stardrop I'd help gather materials for the store he wants to build." They chatted for a little while as he took a shovel to a nearby boulder. "Oh, hey, gold! That's unexpected." He picked up the small nugget. The iron that had also chipped away from the boulder would be more useful right now, but he wondered how much gold went for in Crossing. 

"I guess this is a lucky day for both of us, stretch!" the ostrich said. He waved good-bye as he crossed back over the river.

Back on Stardrop, Timmy was delighted with the hardwood and softwood Sam had collected, and gave him a navy blue trench coat and a wallpaper module as rewards. The wallpaper, he explained, could be used to customize his house via a plug-and-play system, much simpler than hanging real wallpaper or messing around with paint. "You might want to hold onto that, unless you're really pressed for cash or storage space," the young tanuki said when Sam asked about the price of gold. "It's not worth all that much as ore, but it's not very common, either, and I've seen some really nice DIY recipes that call for it."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Sam said, and returned to his house. The wallpaper wasn't really his style at all — bead curtains all over the walls seemed more like something Emily back home would have liked — but it was neat to see how the units functioned. He put it in storage along with the gold and the other materials he'd collected, since selling it right back to Timmy seemed ungrateful.

He spent some time combing the beach for seashells and lucked into another recipe in a bottle. Apparently that was just a thing you did here — come up with an idea, chuck a copy in the ocean. The "ironwood dresser" looked nicer than the wooden side tables he'd already crafted, but it called for a lot of iron, so if he decided to upgrade, that could wait until he was finished gathering materials for Timmy. He planted a few of the coconuts he had found and decided to see what price he could get for the rest. He also collected the pears his mother had sent and planted them behind the plaza, where, like the coconuts, they sent up a few leaves as soon as he finished covering them.

Coconuts, it turned out, were worth quite a bit more than cherries. At this rate, he'd have his loan paid off in no time. "Thanks, Timmy!" he called over his shoulder as he left the tent. "Oof!"

Kid Cat staggered back from the impact. "Sorry about that, psst! Seems like we're always running into each other. Hey, I heard you're getting stuff together to build us a shop! Good hustle, Sam!"

Sam shrugged. "Sure, Timmy asked for some help, and I figured I can keep an eye out for the stuff he needs."

"I found something that might help things along. Here you go!" He held out a few lumps of ore. "I was gonna make those iron nuggets into some free weights, but having a shop sounds way cooler. The faster we get a shop, the fast I can just buy free weights! Go Team Stardrop, psst!"

"Hey, thanks — that's really helpful," Sam said, adding the iron to what he'd already collected. The cat waved and jogged away.

"You finally warming up to Kid Cat?" Diva asked, emerging from beside the Resident Services tent.

Sam winced. "Was I that obvious about it?"

"The cat's pretty oblivious, so I doubt he noticed, but… kinda, ya know? What's the issue you have with him, anyway?"

"I don't have a problem with him," Sam protested. He fell silent as Tommy entered the plaza, but the young tanuki walked by without comment. "Well, I should get back to collecting wood —"

Diva caught his elbow as he started to turn away. "Sam —"

"I'd rather not talk about it," he said.

"Maybe not, but it sounds like you need to, ya know. Come over to my place?"

Sam sighed and followed her toward the river. She was probably right.

"So, what's this all about?" she said as she closed the door behind them. "'Cause even Mr. Muscles is going to notice something's up, eventually."

"Look, it's not about him. He reminds me a lot of someone I knew back home." He shook his head. "Alex is a major real jerk, and I don't think Kid Cat's like that. It's just that the way he talks about sports and muscles and all that stuff keeps bringing up bad memories."

"This Alex, he's the ex-boyfriend you mentioned the other day?"

Sam snorted. "No, he's the guy my ex was seeing behind my back."

"Ohhh… Humans don't do, like, herds or prides or anything like that, right? Just pairs?"

Sam grimaced. Ian's brother had tried to wave off the anger of all the girls he'd been dating by claiming it was just his "lifestyle." "Some folks are okay with multiple relationships, but it's not supposed to be a secret from the other people involved!" He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "He was also dating two of my female friends. None of us had a clue, but the girls decided it was my fault, somehow. I still can't believe he actually got someone to marry him. If he'd asked me, after all that, I'd have thrown the pendant back in his face, but Alex acted like he won some sort of competition." He pinched the bridge of his nose as his eyes blurred. He could say that easily enough, now, but the farmer had been so charming that he'd shrugged off tons of warning signs that were painfully obvious in hindsight. If Ian had come to him, saying he'd realized that Sam was the one he'd really loved all along…

"Wow, that's really rough, ya know." Diva's voice broke into his spiraling thoughts. "That's why you came all the way out here, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Sam said, scrubbing his sleeve across his eyes. "Sorry to dump it all on you like that."

"Nah, I figured you needed to vent, and I was obviously right. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks for listening."

"Any time, ya know."

When Sam was sure he had his face under control, he left Diva's house and headed back to his own, but staring at the bare walls left him feeling restless. He could go for another hike around the island — maybe there was another boulder or some trees he'd missed on his earlier materials harvest. But he didn't think he could deal with running into Kid Cat and his Alex-like mannerisms, just now. He checked the Nook Miles balance on his phone; he had more than enough for another of those tickets.

He was always running away, wasn't he? Sam thought as he headed for the airport a few minutes later, ticket in hand. Hadn't he decided he was done with that, now that he was here? This was different, though. He wasn't abandoning Stardrop or his role as resident representative, just stepping away for a little while to get a grip on his feelings. And he was gathering resources that would help all of them, right?

He sighed as the plane began to descend. There was a campfire burning on this island, too, and he considered asking Wilbur to look for someplace else to land, but the dodo had been very firm about the "randomly selected" aspect of these trips. As it turned out, he was glad he hadn't tried to divert the plane, because the island was covered in pear trees, and he was sure everyone back on Stardrop would be glad of some more variety while they waited for his new pear trees to grow. He, at least, was getting pretty tired of cherry juice.

The campfire belonged to a light blue goat, who looked up from contemplating a white rose as Sam approached. "Oh, hey! Nice to meet you! I'm Sherb!"

"I'm Sam," he said. "Don't mind me — I'm just collecting a few things to take back to Stardrop with me."

"Cool! So you're Sam, from Stardrop? Man, that's real cool. Let's have some fun while we're here together, bawwww."

"Uh, sure," he said, hoping his smile didn't look too fixed, but apparently Sherb's idea of fun was watching the roses bob in the gentle breeze, and he didn't press Sam to join him. After collecting a few more pears, Sam decided he had enough; he didn't want to strip the place bare with someone else there. The rocks on the island yielded mostly clay and stone, though he found a little more iron. He thought about gathering some more wood, too, but his arms and shoulders were still sore from all the chopping he had done earlier in the day, so instead he waved good-bye to the goat and returned to the plane.

Pears were worth even more than coconuts, and Sam stared at his bank balance after depositing what Timmy had paid him. There had to be a catch, right? This seemingly endless supply of easy Bells was bound to dry up soon, and some new expense would pop up. He shrugged and pressed the button to pay off his loan in full. At least he'd be debt-free for whatever new problems might crop up. As he turned away from the machine, he found Tom Nook grinning widely at him. He congratulated Sam on paying off his loan and was quick to point out that he now qualified for an expansion, if he would like.

"I think I'm okay for now," Sam said, and returned home. He lay down on his cot and stared at the ceiling; the house was still so sparsely furnished it was hard to imagine needing more. Life on Stardrop seemed easy now, but there was no telling what the next day would bring.


	6. May 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The museum opens on a rainy day; Sam meets a crocodile (or possibly a dragon?), then gets chased off another mystery island by a raging thunderstorm. A chance discovery leads him to pick up an old hobby again.

What the next day brought was rain. Sam lingered indoors until nearly noon, but the weather wasn't letting up, and finally he pulled on his jeans — which were starting to look more grey than white, despite (or perhaps because of) frequent washing — and his new trench coat, and ventured outside. The beeping mailbox gave him an excuse to immediately duck back inside, where he shook his head over the useless purchases he'd made the day before. It was definitely too cold and damp out for the shorts, though he supposed it would eventually get hot enough that he'd be grateful for them. As for the recording… all he could do with it for now was hang it on the wall as artwork, because his little radio only played what it picked up over the airwaves, which he hadn't taken into consideration before he'd bought it. At least he'd done his part to support a musician he admired, and the album cover suited the wistful mood he often found himself slipping into.

Maybe that wasn't a good thing, he thought as he trudged through the rain toward Resident Services. At what point was he just wallowing in the sort of feelings he'd come here to escape? Timmy seemed to sense his mood and didn't try to make small talk as Sam looked over his shopping options for the day. Nothing caught his eye, and he moved on to the Nook Stop terminal as he finished a protein bar that would probably have tasted like sand even if he'd had an appetite. The pear juice he washed it down with was a nice change, though.

The shopping catalog had one of those plastic folding tables like they used for outdoor festivals in Pelican Town, and he ordered one, figuring it would be nice to have a place everyone could eat outside when the weather was nice. There wouldn't be anywhere to sit, granted, but maybe something would turn up. With that thought, he swigged down the last of his juice and headed outside to chop some trees and hit some boulders.

A while later, he noticed Diva's lights were on and hopped across the river to say hello. "Hey, how's it going?" he asked as she let him in.

"Hey, you showed up, ya know!"

"Yeah, I was out gathering materials when I saw you were in. I'm surprised you're not out in the rain." She reminded him a bit of Sebastian, that way.

"I've been in and out," she said with a grin. "Or out and in, I guess. Oh, yeah! I heard you were gettin' stuff together for a shop!"

"Yup. That's why Kid Cat gave me that iron yesterday."

"Ha! Knew it. Well, thanks for doin' your part for Stardrop." She gave him one of the sturdy stone axes he'd recently learned to make to help him in his quest. Since even the heavy-duty ones broke after a while, he was glad for the spare. "You been to the new museum yet? I thought they were joking when they talked about putting a museum here. But they weren't! And it's awesome! I bet Blathers is seriously beyond ecstatic, ya know!"

"Oh! That's right, it was supposed to open today, wasn't it?" He'd heard Nook begin the morning announcements, but he'd been tired enough that he had just rolled over and gone back to sleep without listening. "I kinda slept through Nook's broadcast this morning. Did I miss anything else?"

"There's going to be a dedication ceremony for the building, assuming the weather 'improves' enough to hold it," she said; he could hear the air quotes and found himself grinning again.

"I'll go say hello to Blathers then, and drop off the things I found over the last couple of days. I'll probably head out to another one or two of those little islands, later — I'm having the worst luck finding the iron we need for the store — but I'll keep an eye on the sky for the ceremony."

The museum building was an impressive structure, inside and out. Sam walked through the massive, open front doors into a mosaic-tiled grand entranceway. Twin staircases rose to a second level, though it didn't appear there was anything up there aside from a few benches; another staircase, placed between the first two, led underground and was marked with a golden shell. Signs to the left and right of the hall showed an insect and a fish, respectively.

In the middle of the hall was Blathers, apparently asleep on his feet. Sam cleared his throat hesitantly, and the owl jerked awake "Hoo! I beg your pardon! I'm a bit of a night owl, don't you know. Drowsy in the daytime."

"I'm sorry — I didn't mean to wake you up," Sam said. "I can come back later…"

Blathers assured him that it was quite all right; he was used to napping his way through the daytime, and apparently considered himself to always be on duty. The curator was delighted with the fish and fossils Sam brought in; less so with the wider variety of bugs, but he accepted the whole lot gladly. The entranceway to the museum was certainly impressive, and the owl gave him a brief rundown of the different wings. "Now, by all means, do please take a gander at our magnificent collection. It is surely a thing of wonder."

"That's the plan," Sam said. He went into the basement first; he had seen all the living animals he'd brought the curator, but the tricky task of extracting the fossils from their encasing rock had been the owl's job. The first room held nothing but empty display tables. Even bare, it was a step up from Gunther's library-museum back home, he had to admit; the floor was inlaid with a branching diagram labeled with what he assumed were scientific terms, and there were illustrated signs on the wall indicating that this room would be the home of any fossils that predated the era of dinosaurs.

He followed the curving line on the floor into the next room and froze. When Blathers had described a couple of his finds as the pelvis and chest of a dinosaur, he'd been picturing something smaller. Much smaller. How in the world had his little shovel extracted the monster that loomed over him from the dirt with just a quick jab? He didn't come up to the diplodocus's knees, even allowing for the fact that it was standing on a slight pedestal. It looked a bit creepy, without a head or tail, but it was seriously impressive. He was pleased to note that the plaque identifying the skeleton also included a note that he had been the one to donate the pieces. The rest of the room held little more than empty display areas, though he stopped to admire a 3D model of what the impact that had wiped out the dinosaurs might have looked like.

The curving line on the floor finally made sense when he followed it into the third and final room of the wing; it was a "family tree" of sorts. Here was the partial deer skeleton and the humanoid skull he had dug up, and the lines on the floor led past them and up to the glass wall of the walkway above; silhouettes of upright people of various species were frosted onto the glass, and the one behind the deer clearly represented its modern, sentient descendant. There was no human shape behind the skull, but when Sam went up to the walkway to investigate, a light above the blank space lit up as he stepped into the spot where it should have been. "Neat." His voice echoed in the large room. He wondered if the lighting would do the same if anyone stepped into this spot, or if it had some way of detecting species.

He left the fossil room and headed for the sign with a butterfly on it. He was even more surprised by the insect wing than the fossils; given Blathers' horror of the creatures he had expected them to be in cages, but instead the whole room was a giant walk-through terrarium, with the bugs roaming free. He flinched as he realized that included the wasp he had brought in, but it ignored him, content to hang out on its replica nest. Sam still couldn't help checking over his shoulder several times as he walked on.

There had been a couple of butterflies in the first room, but through the next door he found a proper butterfly garden, with dozens of them flitting between flowers. Either the other residents had also been donating butterflies and moths or Blathers had a very efficient breeding program going, though the identifying plaques all credited Sam with donating the first of each species. The third room was more like he had expected, insect habitats behind glass, though again, most were empty. There was a small research lab on the upper level, as well.

After the previous two wings, the aquarium was a little anticlimactic — Sam had half-expected to need a bathing suit to get through it. The walk-through ocean tank was as close as he wanted to get to swimming with the fishes, though. As with the other wings, the tanks were sparsely filled or completely empty, and he resolved to keep bringing Blathers all the new creatures he could find.

"So, what did you think?" Blathers asked as Sam emerged from the aquarium wing.

"It's incredible! We had a museum back home, but it was just some minerals and small artifacts on shelves, with labels. I was expecting, I dunno, about the same, but with bigger versions of the tanks and cages I brought you. This place…" He shook his head. "Just amazing."

Blathers beamed at him. "I'm glad you enjoyed your visit. I hope you'll continue to bring me your interesting finds, even those of the insect variety."

"You can count on it," Sam said. He emerged from the museum to find that the rain had not let up. He sighed and headed back to the Resident Services tent to pick up a plane ticket. On the way to the airport, he shot down a blue balloon and grinned at what he found inside.

"Hey, Orville, I've got another package to send to Ferngill," he said as he approached the counter.

The dodo nodded. "Gotcha. Just so you know -- the extra fee only applies to packages, 'cause of the special handling. I checked the regs and if you ever want to send just a letter, it's the same 200 Bells as local mail."

"Good to know," Sam said, turning the card rack until he found the perfect one, then used a couple of the crayons Vincent had snuck into his bag to give the stick figure's shirt red and orange stripes.

> Hey, little bro!
> 
> You'd better be behaving yourself for Mom and Dad! I found this cool teddy bear and thought you'd like it. I miss you, but it's really nice here.
> 
> Love, your big bro Sam

He attached the brown teddy bear the balloon had dropped and handed it to Orville along with the postage fee. "And I've got a ticket for a mystery tour, too," he said, taking it out of his pocket.

"All right, then let's get you airborne!" the bird said, and plugged the information into his computer.

The bad weather was widespread; most of Sam's view on the trip was of thick clouds, and when the plane landed, it was raining even harder than it had been on Stardrop. Despite the rain, the distinctive light of a campfire shone from the middle of the island, which was shaped like a large spiral. Sam made his way along the coast, collecting more wood, a wasp and its nest, and a storage leaf containing a bunk bed, which he hoped might be a step up — no pun intended — from his cot. The rocks were disappointing, stone and clay and no metal at all. There was one last boulder at the center of the spiral, near the campfire. "Hello?" he called as he approached.

A head lifted up from the grass, and a tall green crocodile stood up from where he had been lying by the fire. "Hey, nice to meet ya! I'm Drago. I'm visiting this island today." He was wearing a red raincoat and had a small red hat perched on top of his head, between his horns.

Sam blinked; he didn't think crocodiles had horns, but none of the other species he'd read about in his pre-move research were remotely similar to the person in front of him. "I'm Sam," he said. "I'm just visiting, too. We need some iron back on my island, Stardrop, so I've been digging at every rock I can find."

Drago nodded and stepped away from the boulder Sam had been heading for. He found a single lump of iron, which was better luck than he'd had with the others, but still a long way from what Timmy had asked for. He sighed. One iron nugget on the whole island.

"Hey, you found some!" the crocodile said. "Neat!"

Sam couldn't help but grin at the difference in their attitudes. "Yeah. I still need a lot more, though."

"So you're exploring a lot of islands, burrrn? Are they all like this one? This island has so much nature! Every place you look is nature. It's real neat!"

"Yup, they're all pretty much the same — lots of nature on these little islands," Sam said. 

"I could stay here forever, pointing at stuff saying, 'That's nature!'" Drago sighed, a dreamy look on his face. "Man, it'd be real neat to live on an island like this. Full-time, I mean. Just living life… pointing at nature…"

"Well, that'd probably get a bit old on a tiny island like this. You'd want a bigger island, with other people living on it, like mine."

Drago tilted his head. "Huh?! You live on… Stardrop, right? Is it like this there, too?"

"Well, sort of. We've got a lot of wilderness, but we've also got houses and a museum, and there'll be a shop, too, if I ever find enough iron for them to open it."

"Woah! Then I wanna go! If your island's as cool as you, then I wanna go, Sam."

"Uh…" Had he just invited someone else to settle on the island?

"By the way," the crocodile said, "What should I do to move to Stardrop?"

"Well, I guess you'd start by talking to Tom Nook — he's the guy who's actually in charge."

"So if I call your Mr. Tom Nook, he'll tell me everything? Thanks! I'll call him and say hi!" Drago clapped his hands in delight. "Today's the best day since I found out what 'pasgetti was!"

Sam chuckled. "I hope it works out for you. I'm going to head out now."

"See you soon, burrrn!" Drago called after him as he took a shortcut back to the plane, vaulting across the spiraling river.

When he landed back on Stardrop, the sky was still overcast but the rain had stopped. He poked his head into the Resident Services tent. "Hey, Mr. Nook, if you wanted to do that dedication ceremony for the museum, the weather's probably as clear as it's going to get today."

"Splendid!" the tanuki said. "Would you mind letting everyone else know?"

"Sure thing." He found Kid Cat and Diva, and the three of them headed to the museum together, where Blathers and Nook were already waiting.

"Stardrop truly started out as a deserted island," Tom Nook began. "There simply wasn't much here. But now… It's slowly beginning to develop, thanks to the tireless efforts of… well, everyone, really. And now I think we need to hear a… few words from Blathers, who'll be running our new museum! Blathers, the floor is yours."

Sam had known the owl for only a couple of days, but he had already figured out that the curator's idea of "a few words" was anyone else's lengthy speech. Blathers' obvious delight with his new post came through too clearly for anyone to be annoyed with him, however. When he finally wound down, Nook turned to Sam and asked him if he had anything to add, since he had done the most to bring the museum into reality.

He should have expected it, but he still found it weird that people here actually looked up to him. "Uh, sure! I worked in a museum for a little while before I came here, so it's really great to have this one open. I hope everyone keeps contributing what you find, so we can make this place even more amazing!"

"Yes, yes! Indeed! Thank you for your heartfelt and encouraging sentiments there, Sam!" He passed out confetti poppers and set up a camera. "With hope for our continued growth and to celebrate Stardrop's beautiful museum… Hooray!"

Seconds after they set off their poppers, accompanied by the rapid flash of the camera, the sky opened up again, and everyone scattered except for Diva and Sam, who sighed and took his leaf umbrella back out. "Thanks again for the recipe for this," he said as he raised it over his head. "It's coming in really handy."

"Glad you like it," she said. "How's the resource gathering coming along?"

He shrugged. "I've got all the wood, but iron's really scarce. I could kick myself — I had a bunch, but I used it all up making stuff just before Timmy asked me about it."

"Yeah, that's how it goes, sometimes. Did you find any on your trip earlier?"

"Just one nugget," he said. "I think I'm going back out after I get something for supper. Want to come with me?"

She shook her head. "Nah, I don't have the miles for a ticket right now. I'm just going to kick back and enjoy the rain."

"Gotcha. See you around, then." He picked up a sandwich and another ticket from Resident Services and started toward the airport before remembering that he hadn't finished checking the trees on the east side of the river. He alternated bites of peanut butter and jelly with shaking trees, finding two more wasp nests and another storage leaf. He stuffed the wrapper from the sandwich into the pocket of his trench coat and opened up the leaf.

"Woah! Awesome!" He closed it up again to protect the electric guitar from the rain. He hurried back to his house to take a closer look. The guitar's body was reddish orange shading to black at the edges, and it had a white pickguard. He slung he strap over his shoulder and ran his fingers along the strings; without an amp, he couldn't play it properly, but it felt good to have the instrument in his hands. He hadn't played since —

Since his band had imploded over the discovery that he and his drummer were dating the same jerk, and his synthesizer player had withdrawn from the world thanks to his own broken heart. Sam sighed and set the guitar aside. He would come back to it — he thought of Diva's advice, and the flowers starting to grow where he'd planted them — but the moment of pure joy at having a guitar again had passed. He pulled his coat back on and headed for the airport.

He'd told Drago that all the small islands were pretty much the same, but the rainy isle Wilbur took him to this time proved that a lie. Instead of trees, tall stands of bamboo dotted the island, and when he dug up what he had thought were fossils, he found bamboo shoots, instead. He pocketed them, wondering if they would grow back on Stardrop. He found one nugget each of iron and gold from the first boulder he tried, but as he started walking toward the next, a brilliant flash lit up the sky. It was quickly followed by a long roll of thunder, and he decided that maybe waving a metal shovel around was not a good plan right now. He put his tools away and dashed toward the dock as the rain intensified.

"Wow!" He nearly tripped as a voice cut through the noise of the downpour. He hadn't noticed anyone else on the island with him, but now he could see a small campfire, its flames struggling against the soaking rain. "I didn't expect to see anybody on this island," said the bright pink mouse who had emerged from between stands of bamboo. "Nice to meet yoooou! I'm Candi!"

"Uh, hi. I'm Sam, and I'm leaving. You might want to call for your ride, too — it's getting pretty rough out here." Candi didn't seem particularly concerned about the lightning dancing above the bamboo, however, and as Wilber backed the plane away from the dock, he hoped she would be all right.

The storm clouds chased them all the way back to Stardrop, and Sam sprinted for his house, reaching it just as the first crack of thunder sounded. The rain drummed hard against the roof, and lightning flashed over and over outside the window, but Nook Inc.'s construction was solid; the only water that made it inside was what he had tracked in. Sam stripped out of his soaked clothing and draped it over the drying rack, then set up the bunk bed he had found earlier. It still wasn't ideal, but at least it had a proper mattress.

He moved the cot over by the window and sat on it, in lieu of a chair, strumming near-silent chords on his new guitar as the wind howled. Sebastian would love this, he thought; he had always enjoyed watching a good storm roll in. The thought was less melancholy than it might have been a few days before. He turned on the radio and played along whenever a song he'd heard often enough to be familiar came on; during the station breaks and unfamiliar tunes, he started mentally composing another letter to his best friend.


	7. May 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During a bout of insomnia, Sam finally collects enough iron to help Timmy and Tommy open their new store, and discovers the hazards of night fishing along the way; a kind stranger comes to his aid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content note: Description of minor injury/bleeding near the end of this chapter.

Sam stared at the bottom of the upper bunk as he listened to the morning announcements. What in the world was a "stamp rally"? There was only way to find out, he thought, and sat up, careful not to hit his head. He pulled on his last clean shirt (no wonder his mother had complained so much about laundry!) and his jeans, which had dried out from yesterday's soaking. The sun was shining through the curtains, so he left his trench coat hanging on its peg by the door and stepped outside to check the mail. The table he had ordered had arrived, and he set it aside until he could figure out where he wanted to put it. There was also a letter from the Happy Home Academy.

The HHA must be grading on a curve, he thought, since they had awarded his entirely random "decorating" an "A." They had also enclosed a pennant with their logo, which was apparently meant as a reward; he shrugged and went inside to hang it up. It relieved the monotony of the plain white walls, if nothing else. He grabbed his shaving kit and headed to the airport.

As Sam was leaving left Resident Services after breakfast, Kid Cat jogged by, doing laps around the plaza. "Hey, what's new?" the cat called out.

"Not much. You?"

"Gotta start the day off right. Muscles are a lifestyle, psst!"

Sam refrained from rolling his eyes. It wasn't like his neighbor was pushing him to join in on his workouts. "Good for you," he said, and then took aim at a passing balloon. The package inside contained what looked like grass growing in a small pot. He supposed it might be nice to have some greenery in his house, but his history with keeping houseplants alive was less than stellar, and the bright red pot wasn't really his style.

"Whatcha got?" Kid Cat asked, slowing his jog as he looped back around toward Sam.

"Some kind of plant," he said. The cat obviously liked red, so he held it out. "You want it?"

"Whoa!" The cat stared at the plant. "That looks like some cat grass!" Sam's stomach sank. Cat grass? Was that another name for catnip or something? Had he just offended his neighbor? Then Kid Cat grinned. "You crushed it. I absolutely love this sort of stuff! I can't wait to show this off!" He tucked the plant into his pocket. "I was also looking for an excuse to move my stuff around, so this really is perfect, psst!"

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah… So, how was your Happy Home Academy score? Mine, um… well, there weren't any touchdowns, that's for sure." The cat kicked at the ground.

Apparently people around here cared more about these judgments than Sam had realized. "I guess I did okay? I've just been plunking down furniture I've found or made wherever I feel like it, and I have no idea how they score this sort of thing."

"Same here. Plus, they never even asked how many crunches I can do…"

Sam was pretty sure that home decor wasn't evaluated based on your exercise routine, but he doubted telling Kid Cat that would be helpful. "Well, I hope they like the plant," he said.

"Thanks again!" The cat sprinted toward his house, no doubt to begin rearranging furniture, and Sam set out on what had become his routine rounds of the island. He found a few more fossils to bring to Blathers, a disappointing few iron nuggets amid the clay and stone produced by the island's boulders, and a red bar stool in a tree; the stool wasn't exactly the sort of thing that would go with a picnic table, but it would give him something other than his bed to sit on at home.

When he entered the museum to have his fossils appraised, Blathers was asleep, but snapped awake at the sound of Sam's footsteps. "Hello, Sam! Today, in honor of International Museum Day, we're holding a Stamp Rally!"

"I heard Mr. Nook mention it on the morning announcements," Sam said. "I'm not sure what that is, though."

"It works thusly… The bug, fish, and fossil galleries each have three stamp stations. You must find the stations within each gallery and acquire the necessary stamps to earn a prize. You can earn three unique prizes, one for completing the rally in each of the three galleries! Hoo, it's true!" He handed Sam a trio of cards. "Do be sure to give it a go whilst perusing the museum's many fine exhibits."

"I'll do that. Before I go in, though, I found a few more fossils this morning…" Blathers looked them over and accepted three of the four as donations.

The fourth was another australopithecus skull, so the owl returned it to Sam. He put it back in his pocket and went down to the fossil wing. He supposed he could see what sort of price Timmy would offer for it… or maybe it would make a good Spirit's Eve decoration? Did they celebrate that here? His conversation with Diva the other day hadn't gotten all the way to autumn holidays.

He stopped and looked around the first room; one of the fossils he had brought in the day before had been added, along with a couple of models of its more modern descendants. There was nothing that looked like a "stamp station," though, so he went on to the dinosaur room, where he found a yellow table set up next to an empty display area. The station was labeled "aquatic reptiles," and had a note with it that the creatures whose skeletons would be displayed there, if any were discovered, weren't dinosaurs at all.

The second station was on the other side of the same room. "I guess I shouldn't call it the dinosaur room," Sam murmured as he stamped his card; this one was dedicated to "synapsids," including the juramaia he'd brought in yesterday. Freed from the dirt that had encased it, it looked a bit like a rat. The final stamp was in the room with the more recent fossils, and pointed out the silhouettes he had noticed the other day. It was nice to be ahead of the curve, for once.

He took the card back out to Blathers. "My feathers! You've finished the Stamp Rally in the fossil gallery! As the host of these rallies, it pleases me to my pinfeathers to see you frolic amid the fossils so."

"I wouldn't exactly call it frolicking, but it's neat to see more stuff go in," Sam said. Blathers presented him with his prize: a wall plaque similar to the one that hung above the entrance to the fossil wing. "Hmm, I bet I can guess what the other prizes are," he said, and when he brought back his completed cards, he found he was right. "Thanks! I was just thinking that my walls were still pretty bare, so it'll be nice to have something to put on them." The owl informed him that the rally would continue through the end of the month, with the stamp stations being changed each day, and though the prizes would be the same each day, he was welcome to come back for additional plaques.

Sam just smiled and said he'd think about it; he only had so much wall space, after all, and the built-in storage in his house was starting to fill up already, mostly with raw materials for crafting. He should probably look into making some things with those supplies, even if all he did was sell the results to Timmy.

"Sure, crafted goods sell for more than their components. The work of making them is valuable!" Timmy said, when Sam asked after selling off some of what he'd found that day. He opted to keep the skull, for now, but he didn't have much use for a jewelry rack, no jewelry included, and it didn't look like the sort of thing Diva or Kid Cat would want. "What sort of recipes have you come across?"

Sam brought up the list on his phone, then remembered he hadn't opened the bottle he'd found on the beach earlier. "A stone table… well, that ought to be easy enough. I've found a ton of stone while looking for iron for your shop."

"Hmm," Timmy said. "Didn't the DIY for Beginners booklet you bought the other day have a stone stool? I'm afraid I can't offer you more for a matched set, but you could also set them up on the island."

"I was thinking about something like that," Sam said. "A picnic area would be nice."

"Oh, then you should see what I'm selling today!" Timmy opened up his catalog.

"Perfect!" Sam bought the barbecue grill the tanuki was carrying, along with a picnic basket. "Thanks, Timmy — I'm going to do some crafting."

There was an area to the west of the plaza with a good amount of space between the trees, and he set up the stone table and four stools, with the barbecue off to one side. The plastic-topped table he had ordered would make a good prep counter for the grill, he decided, and placed it and the picnic basket beside the barbecue.

"Wow, this is a sweet setup!" He turned to find Diva sitting on one of the stools.

"Thanks," he said. "I figured it'd be nice to have somewhere we could all eat together, if we wanted — or just hang out."

"You're the best resident representative ever!" she said. "Now all we need is those vending machines, right?"

"I'll keep my eyes peeled," he said. Maybe that was something Timmy could help with, once that new shop was established. The young tanuki was far too polite to pester him about his progress with the materials, but the way he kept apologizing for his small selection of goods made it clear he was anxious to expand. With that in mind, Sam bought a ticket for a mystery tour and returned to the airport.

Wilbur landed at an island that looked a little like a miniature version of Stardrop, with a short river, a pond, and a small area of cliffs. There was a campfire on the far side of the river, and he waved back to the tall pink bird beside it before turning his attention to the nearest boulder. Sam's luck, such as it was, held; he found a couple of iron nuggets and a fossil before his shovel disintegrated. He sighed and took out his net, approaching a tree. He could buy a replacement shovel from Wilbur, but at the rate his iron search was going he would need to save all his miles for travel tickets. He shook all the nearby trees, finding no wasps and a furniture leaf containing a tankless toilet. "Nice," Sam murmured; not having to trek out to the airport would be nice. He collected enough hardwood and, after a moment's debate, sacrificed one of his precious iron nuggets to reinforce the shovel.

There was another boulder on the far side of the river — two, actually, but one was on the inaccessible clifftop — so he vaulted across. The bird, who had been dancing in place (though Sam couldn't hear any music) turned toward him as he approached. "Hi! Great to meet you! How are you? I'm Flora! Welcome to my hype-tastic island getaway! OK, it's not my island… but it will be! I want to be a pop star, and all pop stars own islands!" All this was said in a single breath, fast enough that Sam could barely understand her.

"Well, good luck with that!" he said. "I'm Sam. I hope you don't mind me doing a little resource gathering on your island-to-be. I'm looking for iron to take back Stardrop — that's the island where I live."

"So you're Sam from Stardrop? Fab. I love meeting new folks… AKA new fans!"

"Hah, yeah." He hoped his smile didn't look as strained as it felt. This was why Ian had teased him about his certainty that Goblin Destroyer would make the big time, wasn't it? Granted, he had never been planning-to-buy-a-private-island arrogant about it... "Anyway, I need to take a few whacks at that boulder there, and I sure wouldn't want to accidentally hit a future superstar with a rock chip," he said, and she beamed at him as she moved to the other side of her campfire and resumed practicing her dance moves. She wasn't bad, either, he thought, noting out of the corner of his eye that she was now keeping time with the rhythm of his shovel against the rock. Still he was just as glad she didn't try to continue the conversation as he gathered up his findings — a replacement for the iron in his shovel and a lot of stone and clay. Flora didn't seem to notice when he vaulted back across the river, lost in whatever music she was listening to in her head.

Back on Stardrop, he added the iron he had collected to the small pile in his attic. He only needed five more nuggets to reach Timmy's goal — with a little luck, maybe one more mystery island would do it. Before he set out again, however, he set up the toilet he had found. Not only did it not have a standing water tank, he couldn't see anywhere for water to come from — or go. But like so many things in Crossing, magic seemed to be the answer; when he set it in one corner of the room and tried a test flush it functioned exactly as if it were connected to a proper plumbing system. The only problem was that now he had a toilet sitting out in the open. Even "one room" apartments generally had a separate bathroom. He grimaced and rearranged furniture as best as he could to create a little bit of privacy. Fortunately, no one here seemed inclined to barge in without knocking, since the standing mirror and ice cream lamp didn't make a great "wall." The lack of a sink was another issue he hadn't fully considered, and as he headed for the airport, he resigned himself to continuing to make that trip on a regular basis.

The island Wilbur took him to looked like most of the others he had visited — cedar and cherry trees, a small area of cliffs with a waterfall and a winding river, and a campfire burning on the far side of it. Even from across the river, he could see that the pig who was sitting by that cheerful blaze looked annoyed by the racket he was making, so when the only boulder on his side of the water yielded nothing but stone, he decided to cut his losses and head back to Stardrop without approaching to ask if the other camper. He did shake the trees near the dock, however, and found a wooden podium he thought Blathers might appreciate.

As it happened, the owl preferred not to put a barrier, however elegant, between himself and visitors to the museum. "Well, darn, I guess I can understand that, but my storage is nearly full, and it seems a shame to just sell it," Sam said.

"It is very thoughtful of you, Sam, and I agree that it is, indeed, an elegant piece of furniture. Perhaps you might set it up in front of the museum, instead? It would make a lovely display pedestal for small artifacts, should you find any duplicates of ones already in our collection."

"That's a good idea," Sam said. He still had that skull… It looked a bit macabre, sitting in front of the museum's entrance, but he decided to leave it there unless someone complained.

He stopped in at Resident Services to sell a few more things he had found or made, and after depositing most of the Bells he got for them, he discovered that his balance was already higher than the cost of his original home loan. "Hey, Mr. Nook, how much would that expansion you mentioned run me?"

"Well, hm... For your home, I think I'd recommend making the room larger." He named a price that was about twice what the house had cost, and mentioned that it would add to his storage space, as well.

It might be a mistake, since he didn't have the Bells in hand, but… "Sure, let's go for it." Nook's eyes lit up, and he assured Sam that the construction would be completed the next day.

Some hours later, Sam found himself contemplating that the downside to sleeping in a hammock was being at the mercy of the weather; the spring night had grown too chilly to be comfortable. He considered going inside to get his sweater, or perhaps use his coat as a blanket, but he didn't want to get in the way of the crew working on his house — although he didn't see any sign of them from the outside. Besides, the longer he lay in the hammock staring at the sky, the less he felt like sleeping. Finally, he gave up and wandered toward Resident Services, wondering if he could sneak a midnight snack without waking anyone up. Before he reached the tent, he saw that Diva's lights were still on, spilling toward the north edge of the plaza, and he changed course to knock on her door.

"C'mon in!" she called. "Hey, Sam, didn't realize you were a creature of the night, like me."

"Less than I used to be, back in my hometown," he said. "I guess those few days in a tent got me used to waking up with the sun. Since I can't sleep now, maybe my internal clock's getting back to normal."

"Bein' able to close the curtains is a definite plus to havin' a house," she agreed. "Speaking of… have you seen your Happy Home Academy results yet? Mine were… about what you'd expect. It's really weird having your style picked apart, ya know."

"Yeah, there's nothing like the HHA back where I come from," Sam said. "Based on my score, I think they must give points for clutter or something."

"Aw, you're just tryin' to make me feel better, aren't you?" She poked him in the arm.

"No, seriously, I've just been putting stuff I like wherever it'd fit. It was getting to where I could barely walk around, so I decided to spring for a house expansion today."

Her eyes widened. "Woah, you already paid off your first loan? I've barely even started on mine!"

"I've been lucky, I guess? Timmy gave me a really great price for all those pears I brought back the other day, and a few of the balloons I've shot down have been carrying Bells instead of random stuff."

"You've also been workin' super hard," she said. "Seriously, Kid Cat and I appreciate everything you're doing, but you need to learn to take it easy! Gettin' away from the daily grind is kinda the whole point of an island getaway, ya know?"

Maybe it was the fact that he had only gotten a couple of hours of sleep before the chilly breeze had woken him up, but Sam found Diva's statement hilarious. When he finally stopped laughing, he was sitting on her floor and she was standing over him, looking concerned. "Sorry. I'm used to people telling me to quit slacking off, not calling me a workaholic." She gave him a skeptical look. "Really! I had a part time job as a janitor at the local supermarket, and later at our museum, and spent the rest of the time just hanging out, playing video games or trying to write music."

"No way, you're a musician? That's awesome."

He shrugged. "Yeah, I had a band with a couple of my friends — we even did a gig in the city, once. Then… well, my drummer and I discovered we'd been dating the same guy, and my best friend Sebastian got his heart broken by that guy's sister. It was fun while it lasted, though." The distance was helping, he thought; the memory didn't hit him like a punch to the gut this time, but as a more distant regret.

"So, you just… gave up music?"

"Oh, no way. I even found a sweet electric guitar in a tree the other day, although I still need to find an amp to plug it into," he said, climbing to his feet. "But the thing I've always liked best about music is playing with other people — like we're making something bigger than just ourselves. Hey, do you play anything?"

Diva laughed. "Oh, I'll sing along with the radio every now and then, when it's a song I really like, but nah, I'm not pro quality or anything. You find a karaoke setup, though, and I will be right there."

"You got it," Sam said. "So now I'm on the hunt for vending and karaoke machines." He pulled out his phone and pretended to take a memo, though his NookPhone didn't have a notes app.

"What did I just say… Oh, you!" She laughed as Sam lost his battle to keep a straight face.

"Thanks for looking out for me, Diva, but it's not like I'm running till I drop. Everything I'm doing, it's because I'm enjoying it. Well, except maybe trying to find all the iron Timmy needs for the shop. It's like the moment I started looking for something specific instead of just being happy with whatever I found from the rocks, the supply just dried up. I'm almost there, though." In fact…

Diva jabbed him in the arm again. "You're thinking of going huntin' for more rocks to hit right now, aren't you?"

He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yeah, but it's mostly 'cause I don't think I'm going to get back to sleep any time soon, so I might as well do something useful."

She rolled her eyes but didn't try to talk him out of it, so he headed for Resident Services. Tom Nook was sitting at the back of the tent, his eyes slitting open as Sam lowered the tent flap behind him as quietly as he could. The tanuki looked like he was going to get to his feet, but settled back down when Sam raised his hands in apology and pointed at the Nook Stop terminal. Timmy and Tommy were sleeping on a cushion in the corner, leaning against each other, and didn't stir as Sam printed out a ticket and poked through the shop listings. The way they were cuddled together reminded him of the way Vincent would often fall asleep leaning against him or his mother when she let him stay up late to watch something on TV. He ducked out of the tent and tried to ignore the sudden wave of homesickness that washed over him.

When Wilbur opened the plane door after landing, Sam wished he had gone into the house for his coat, after all, because it was raining. He sighed and took out his shovel; Sebastian was proof that a little rain wasn't going to do him any harm. Besides, it wasn't coming down that hard, and he was only going to make a quick pass around the island to look for iron.

It seemed his luck had finally changed; the first boulder yielded three iron nuggets; the second one had four, there was a fossil mark not far from it, and a nearby tree yielded a small punching bag that Kid Cat would probably appreciate. There were quite a few large, dark shapes moving beneath the surface of the winding river, as well, and he decided to try his hand at night fishing, hoping he would have more than just the single potential exhibit to bring to Blathers when he got home.

He regretted his decision almost at once, since what he pulled out of the water was definitely not a fish. "Crap crap crap..." he muttered as he attempted to stuff the large turtle into his pocket without losing any fingers; he was afraid if he returned it to the water it would charge right back out at him, as pissed off as it was. With it safely — he hoped — stowed, he eyed the other shadows in the water and decided to try the ocean, instead. He cast his line near a small shadow, to be safe.

This time, he caught an actual fish, and even in the near-total darkness he could tell it wasn't one he had seen before. "All right, Blathers is going to be thrilled — Ow!" He nearly dropped the small blue fish, but somehow fumbled it into his pocket with his left hand as he stared at the dark line across his right palm. The the rain was washing the blood away almost as quickly as it welled up, but he couldn't see well enough to tell how deep it really was. He glanced toward the dock, but Wilbur had been kind of grumpy about the late-night flight to begin with, and had said he was going to nap in the plane while Sam did whatever he had come for. Instead of bothering the pilot, he headed toward the campfire burning cheerfully against the drizzle. "Hello?" he called as he approached.

"Wow! I didn't expect to see anybody on this island!" a perky voice exclaimed from the far side of the blaze. "I'm Winnie!" A vague shape waved.

"I'm Sam," he replied, and grimaced as the cut on his hand started to throb. "I've, uh, had a little bit of an accident and I'm hoping I could borrow your fire to see how bad it is?"

"Oh, no!" Winnie stood up and hurried over to him; the light revealed her to be a brown horse in a cheerful red raincoat. "What happened?"

"Not sure," he said, angling his hand toward the firelight. "I was fishing, and I caught this cute little blue thing, and suddenly my hand was bleeding." The cut wasn't too deep, and the bleeding looked like it was slowing, but it crossed the whole width of his palm.

"Ooh. Sounds like a surgeonfish. They've got these, like, wicked sharp spines. Sit down on the rock there and let me take a look. Hang on, I've got a first aid kit here somewhere..." She rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a roll of gauze. "You're braver than me, fishing in the dark. It's hard enough to tell what you're reeling in in the daytime…" He half-listened to her as she wound the gauze around his hand and tied it off, until —

"Wait, sharks?"

"Yeah, I don't fish in the ocean in the summer," she said. "They're, like, worth a ton of Bells, but even though a good fishing rod'll stun them for a while, the idea of catching a great white or hammerhead just freaks me out. There — you should be hay-OK in no time!"

He flexed his hand a little; the bandages felt secure but not so tight they'd cut off blood flow to his fingers. "Thanks, I really appreciate it."

"I'm glad I could help! You should definitely take some medicine when you get home, though, if you don't have any with you. I had a run-in with some wasps earlier, so I'm afraid I've already used up what was in my kit," she said. 

"I thought that was just for stings?" She looked at him in confusion, and he shrugged. "Sorry, I'm still pretty new to Crossing…"

"Oh! I was wondering about your accent! Medicine won't make it, like, heal super-fast or any of that movie stuff, but it'll keep your hand from getting infected. It works on colds and other bugs, too!"

"Wow, that's good to know," Sam said. "I've had to use it for wasps a few times, but nobody on Stardrop mentioned it did more than that."

"Stardrop? Where's that?"

"That's the island I live on," he said, and explained about the getaway package he had signed up for. "We've got a museum that opened yesterday… or I guess it's two days ago, technically. That's why I was fishing — to help fill out the aquarium wing."

"Wow, that's sooooo cool! I've been having fun on this little getaway, but the only thing better than kicking back and chilling on an island would be… to do it forever! Spending time on an island is the best way to find your inner calm… and hug it as hard as you can!" She giggled and clasped her hooves together. "If I lived on an island… hay-OK, I'd be the calmest, most relaxed horse pop star you ever met!"

Sam thought that would only be because he hadn't met any other horse pop stars, but he couldn't help but grin despite the lingering ache in his hand. "You'd like Stardrop, then. We're pretty laid back, aside from the wasps. They're jerks."

"Move to Stardrop? Ohmigosh! Yessssss! I could move to any old island, but this is way better since you'll be there, and I won't be totally lost. You hear that, world? I'm… moving to Stardrop!"

He'd done it again, he realized as she peppered him with questions, and he tried to emphasize that she'd need to talk to Tom Nook to make sure it was all right. But she seemed to take that part for granted, and immediately moved on to stressing out about all the chores that came along with moving. Just as Sam was starting to worry the horse might pass out from hyperventilating, she stopped to take a few calming breaths.

"Whew! All better! So. All I've got to do to get this train going is talk to Tom Nook? Easy! I cannot wait to have a chic Stardrop zip code!"

"You, uh, probably want to wait until morning to call, though," Sam said, and raised his bandaged hand to cover a yawn. "And on that note, I should go home now. I came on this trip 'cause I couldn't sleep, and I don't think that's a problem any longer."

Winnie walked him back to the plane, talking the whole time, to make sure he didn't meet with any other mishaps on the way, which he appreciated even if it didn't prove necessary. Wilbur eyed his bandaged hand when Sam woke him up, but didn't comment, just started up the plane and backed away from the dock.

Despite what he'd told the horse, however, Sam found when he landed that he was still too wired to sleep. And there was the matter of the medicine… he didn't trust himself to follow the recipe, even if he were in any shape to go hunting wasp nests right now. He stopped by his house just long enough to collect the rest of his iron nuggets and headed for the Resident Services tent.

This time, Tom Nook was asleep, too, and didn't stir as Sam crouched down beside the two smaller tanuki. "Psst. Timmy?" he whispered.

The nearer of the pair opened his eyes. "Hmm? Sam? Wha' time izzit...?"

"Way too late, or early, I'm not sure at this point," he said, keeping his voice as low as he could. "Sorry to bother you, but I cut my hand while I was out on a mystery trip and the lady who helped me bandage it said I should take some medicine as soon as possible, to make sure it didn't get infected." He held up his right hand.

"Oh!" Timmy's eyes went wide. "Of course, just a moment." He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a familiar packet. "You brew it like a tea and drink it, for infection or illness," he said as Sam handed over the Bells. "The instructions are on the bag."

"Thanks," Sam said. "And as an apology for waking you up…" He held out the iron.

Timmy stared at the offering as if he was too sleepy to process it. Then he gave a little gasp and turned to shake his twin awake. "Tommy! Look! Sam brought the last of the supplies for the shop!"

Tommy rubbed his eyes. "Oh, that's wonderful! Thank you so much!"

Timmy turned back to Sam. "One more thing… Since we have all the materials we need and can start construction on the shop… we'd like you, a key figure in making this happen, to pick out the perfect location!" He handed over a bundle similar to the one Sam had used to mark the spot for the museum. "Place that shop construction kit wherever you'd like, and we'll get started. When you have time, that is. I know you must be tired. But with the materials in hand, it won't take very long at all."

"… at all." Tommy echoed.

"Sure, I can do that now," Sam said. He still felt kind of bad about how long it had taken him to find the iron. He was really glad, as he watched the kit unfold just to the west of the plaza, that he didn't have to mess around with stakes or measuring or anything like that, since he was swaying on his feet. He really ought to go back to the hammock… Instead, he poked his head back into the tent to let the twins know he was finished and headed for the museum.

About halfway there, motion out of the corner of his eye made him jump. He had a vague impression of a curled black tail before whatever it was vanished into the shadows. A housecat, or maybe some sort of weird squirrel? He hadn't seen any sign of any mammals living on the island other than his fellow villagers. Maybe he was just so tired he was seeing things, and it had been the wind rustling the grass. He shook his head and kept walking.

Blathers looked up from the book he was reading as Sam entered the museum. "Hello, Sam. I didn't expect anyone to be out and about this late. Might there be something with which I can assist you?"

"Found a couple things," Sam said, handing over the fossil first. Blathers informed him that it was the neck of the giant dinosaur looming over the entrance to the second room of the exhibit, though it would remain headless, for now. Then he took out the small fish that had given him so much trouble. "Then there's this…"

"Hoo! Careful, now! These fish are particularly dangerous, despite their seemingly docile appearance," Blathers said, taking the transport bag carefully out of Sam's hands.

"Yeah, no kidding." Sam held up his white-wrapped hand. "Winnie — this other camper on the island I was visiting — said it was called a surgeonfish?"

"Indeed, it is. Its spine is as sharp as a blade, so care must be taken when handling these beauties."

"Ah, got it — surgeon as in scalpel, right?"

The owl nodded and tucked the bag into his own pocket. "I believe that is the origin of the name, yes. I hope you weren't injured too badly.

"The cut's not too deep, and I've got some medicine to take when I get back to my place. Oh, and there was one other thing I fished up, but I'm not sure if it qualifies…" He reached into his pocket again — and nearly dropped the turtle when he pulled it out, because it wasn't in a tank or bag. It hissed, and Blathers recoiled as Sam held it at arms length away from himself.

"Well. That is undoubtedly a snapping turtle," the curator said. "I'll grant it's not a fish, but I am quite certain the large pond tank in the aquarium would make a suitable habitat, if you would care to donate it." He sounded nervous about the prospect, and Sam couldn't blame him.

"I don't think it'd make a very good pet," he said. "I'm… not quite sure how to hand it over without one of us getting nipped, though."

"Ah… Hmm." Blathers eyed the turtle. "Why don't we take it directly to the tank in question?" He led Sam into the freshwater room of the wing and up the ramp behind the large pond replica. "Yes, just… gently lower it over the side... Watch your fingers…" The turtle made one last attempt to take a souvenir out of Sam's hand as he let it go, but once it found itself back in the water it settled down, climbing onto a log with a final hiss in their direction.

"Whew."

"Indeed. The last time I encountered one of these beasts in the wild, it chased me across a parking lot. I had to climb on top of a car until it finally lost interest and wandered away."

"Oof. Awkward. So…" He eyed the owl's wings, and hoped he wasn't about to be rude, but curiosity was getting the best of him. "I read what I could find about Crossing before I moved here, but none of the guides were very detailed. I hope this isn't offensive, but… I take it you can't fly?"

"Regrettably, no," Blathers said. "An evolutionary trade-off, I suppose; dexterity, intelligence, and body mass in exchange for the freedom of the skies… I cannot say I'm unhappy with the results of the bargain, for all that I often wonder what it must be like to soar without benefit of an airplane." He gazed into the distance for a moment, then shook himself. "Ah, do pardon me. Is there anything else you've been wondering about the denizens of Crossing? I can assure you I'll not take offense at such questions."

"Actually, yeah. I should probably go home, though, and take this medicine… Oh. Timmy said it needed to be brewed like tea, and I don't have anything to heat water in. Or with, other than my campfire."

"Why don't we adjourn to my office? I have an electric kettle and no shortage of mugs." Blathers led him to a well-concealed door Sam hadn't noticed before, just inside the entrance to the fossil wing. The room beyond it reminded Sam of the tent Blathers had set up upon his arrival — larger, but so crowded with books and tools that there was barely more space to stand than there had been beneath the canvas. As they waited for the medicine to finish steeping, Sam asked whatever questions came to mind. Cat grass, it turned out, was nothing like catnip; Crossing's feline residents grew wheatgrass and similar plants as digestive aids. Frog citizens began their lives as tadpoles, just like their non-sentient counterparts. The guy Sam had met on one of his trips was undoubtedly an ordinary crocodilian, his draconic features some manner of costume or body modification, since dragons of the mythical variety were just that, myths, and to the best of Blathers' knowledge there were no sentient relatives of any of the reptile species colloquially named "dragons."

The latest burst of adrenaline must be wearing off, or perhaps it was an effect of the medicine, but it wasn't long before Sam could barely keep his eyes open. "Thanks, Blathers, this has been really helpful. But now I'm completely done in, and I think I should go home and try to get some sleep." How many times had he already said that? This time, though, he didn't think his body was going to give him a choice about following through.

Blathers gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. "I quite understand. Do feel free to come by at any time, should you have more questions."

"I'll do that," Sam said, smothering another yawn.

He emerged from the museum to find the sky already beginning to brighten. Tom Nook was setting up his broadcast microphone in the plaza, and Sam raised a hand in greeting as he passed. The tanuki nodded and switched on the mic. "Hello, everyone. This is Tom Nook! It's 5:00 AM this happy Monday, May 25th, 2020."

Sam swallowed a groan and half-listened to the announcements as he stumbled up to his front door. Timmy hadn't been kidding about the shop not taking long to build, because they were going to be opening in just a few hours. The sound of a cell phone had him reaching for his pocket before he realized it was part of the broadcast, and as he fell into bed at last he snickered at Nook's obvious embarrassment. He tried to stay awake long enough to hear what that was all about, but sleep claimed him the moment his head touched the pillow.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism and (especially) tag advice are very welcome, 'cause I'm still figuring that part out.


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